


Black Coffee with a Shot of Romance

by RoS13, TheScarletAvenger



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Awesome Darcy Lewis, Awesome Phil Coulson, BAMF Darcy Lewis, BAMF Phil Coulson, Canon Divergence - No Hydra Takeover, Coffee, Coffee Shops, F/M, Not Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-01-03 07:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoS13/pseuds/RoS13, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheScarletAvenger/pseuds/TheScarletAvenger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy’s in New York City, working as a barista in a coffee shop while trying to put her life back together after dropping out of college. One brisk fall day, a certain SHIELD agent walks into the shop … and into her heart. An Avengers Coffee Shop AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Good Cup of Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a collaboration between myself and RoS13 (Rose). A lot of the plot is from her head (because she's awesome like that!)
> 
> Added note from Rose: This is actually my very first fanfic of any kind and I'm quite honoured to have it happen as a collaboration with The Scarlet Avenger! Don't let Scarlet's comment fool you, I might have had the broad idea but she's adding as much detail as I am and I love her Darcy voice!

"Oh thank god you're here, Darcy!" a slim, auburn-haired young woman exclaimed, as she bustled her way through the door of Beans coffee shop. "I thought Estelle was opening this morning. God, I hate that bitch," the girl said with a short laugh, snagging a muffin off the counter as she hurried past to dump her coat and bag into the staff closet.

"I saw she was on this morning and I asked Brian if I could switch with her. I know how much you don't like her, Tessa. She's a bit ... difficult," Darcy Lewis said, swallowing a more colorful description of her thoughts as she swept up some dirt on the floor with a broom. Darcy had moved from Virginia to New York City after she dropped out of college around spring break. Of course, she did it against her parents wishes and they totally cut her off from the family. Her father yelled at her over the phone telling her that if she dropped out then she could forget about getting a monthly check from him. She would have to make it on her own. Darcy decided on New York City because she was a city girl at heart and NYC was always one of those places she said she'd want to visit. Turns out that the city was a helluva lot more expensive than she thought. The price of living here was astronomical, but she was determined to make it work. She managed to find an apartment (a crappy apartment in the crappy part of town, but it was a place to live, right?). She also managed to find a job at this coffee shop as a barista. After a couple months though she was promoted to shift manager, because of her awesome people skills and how great she was at managing the staff. The pay was still shit though, she barely just made rent every month, only having just enough left over for food. But hey, she had been here for about six months and she wasn't homeless or dead yet, so she must be doing something right.

Tessa smirked with a mouth full of muffin. "I hate working with her! She's acts like she's the coffee shop goddess or something," she said, taking another bite, and her eyes widened. "Oh my god, Darce, these muffins are freaking amazing! What did you put in them?"

"Pumpkin. I thought I'd try something new for Thanksgiving. You know, to get people into holiday mode." Darcy dumped the dustpan full of dirt into the trash bin and walked over to the sink to wash her hands.

"Well, they're delicious. I swear to god, you're like the glue that's holding this place together. We probably would have shut down months ago if you didn't come along." Tessa finished her muffin and put her apron on. "I'm happy Brian said you could sell your baked goods here."

Darcy laughed. "My muffins bring all the boys in."

Tessa giggled. "I don't think it's the muffins, Darcy." She rinsed a coffee pot out and wiped down the counter.

Darcy groaned and shook her head. "I'd like for once to not have to rely on my boobs and ass for tips. I swear guys in this city are just as bad as the ones back home."

"No, Darce. They're worse. It's hard to find a decent guy in this city. Either they're total creepers, cracked out homeless guys, or stiff-necked businessmen. It's like ninety-eight percent assholes in NYC. And when you do find a good man, you find out he's gay! I lucked out with Rick, though. He's a real sweetheart."

Darcy turned her back to Tessa to fill the napkin dispenser, and rolled her eyes. Rick was not a sweetheart. He was an asshole, but loved to put on the nice boy act when he was around Tessa. Darcy knew an asshole when she saw one, because she dated a ton of them. She had a string of horrible boyfriends ever since she started dating. They seemed like such great guys until after a while. Then they only wanted one thing from her, and she was not about to have sex with a guy that only wanted her for her body. When she met David at college, she thought she won the jackpot. He was cute, funny, smart, an all-around good guy. Things were great for a few months, but then he started to change. He started to push for sex, and Darcy just wasn't ready for it yet. She tried to explain to him that she wanted to wait just a little longer and he laughed at her and told her that she was being stupid. He laughed even more when he found out she was still a virgin. 'What twenty-two year old girl is still a virgin?,' he had said to her. The next week he dumped her in front of everyone in the cafeteria. Darcy had never felt more humiliated in her entire life. That wasn't the worst of it though, soon enough the rumors started spreading across the campus. It didn't stop at there though, soon enough attacks came across her Facebook and Twitter. Darcy had no choice but to delete her accounts, shutting her out from having any kind of social interactions with anyone. When things didn't get any better she decided that enough was enough and she dropped out of college right before spring break.

"So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?" Tessa asked, brewing a new pot of French roast coffee.

"Not going home, that's for sure," Darcy said dryly, sitting down at the counter for a moment. The shop was to open in about ten minutes, and this would be the last bit of free time she'd have to relax. "I wasn't even invited for dinner this year. My sister Erica said I should just come anyway, but I know my father would throw a shit fit. So I'm staying home."

Tessa pouted. "Awww, honey, you can come to my parents house in Jersey. Rick's coming too, but there's always room for one more at the Clark house."

Yeah the last thing she wanted to do was spend more time around Rick than she already had to. She loved Tessa, but no way could she handle an entire weekend with her and her boyfriend. "Thanks,Tess but I'm just going to stay here. I kind of have to anyway, someone has to be here super early the day after Thanksgiving to open. You know how those crazy shoppers are going to want their coffee. Enrique is coming in later in the morning, so I won't be alone at least."

"But what about turkey dinner?" Tessa asked. "It's sad not to have a proper dinner on Thanksgiving."

"Oh, I got that taken care of," Darcy said as she got up to unlock the door. "Turkey dinner coming in the form of a frozen microwavable meal. Comes with cranberry dessert and everything."

"Um, no offense but ...ew." Tessa stuck her tongue out.

Darcy shrugged. "Thanksgiving isn't my favorite holiday. It's all about eating so much that you go into turkey coma and pass out for the rest of the day. I can't wait for Christmas. I fucking love Christmas," Darcy said quickly just as a well dressed woman walked into the coffee shop.

"Good, morning!" Tessa said to the woman with a big smile. "What can I get you?"

"Nonfat latte. No whip," the woman mumbled as she busily typed on her phone.

"You got it," Tessa said, grabbing a paper cup and started to prepare the woman's drink. She looked back over to Darcy. "Do you think Brian will let us put Christmas decorations up next week?"

The woman in line rolled her eyes, still busy on her phone. "God, I hope you don't start decorating until December. It's bad enough Macy's already has their displays up. Christmas just gets earlier and earlier every year. They should just cancel this miserable holiday all together."

Darcy made a face from behind the woman, and Tessa stifled a laugh as she handed the woman her latte. "Brian said we could put them up Thanksgiving weekend if we're not too busy. I want to go all out. I'm talking painting snowflakes on the windows, a big ass twinkling tree, and garland on the counter," Darcy replied as the woman walked out of the shop. "We'll turn this place into a fuckin' winter wonderland."

"Yeah, give these grumpy New Yorkers some holiday spirit," Tessa said with a shake of her head. "Well, don't start until I'm back from my parents house, because I want to help. So what do you think she did for a living?"

Darcy laughed. Guessing occupations or making up wild stories about the lives of people that came into the shop was a game that she and Tessa played all the time. Not only was it fun but it also made the time pass by quickly. "Let's see ... well dressed, bitchy, and eyes glued to her phone. I'm going to guess some kind of power executive. You?"

"I'm going to say a lawyer," Tessa guessed. "She seemed like a grouch, and she didn't even leave a tip!" The doors opened again and a couple of young men in high-viz vests and scuffed overalls walked in with smiles on their faces.

Darcy flashed her best flirty smile, and stepped behind the counter. "So you boys are back, huh?" The guys had been frequenting the shop for the last week. When Darcy and Tessa first encountered them, they had been wearing casual clothing, and the girls thought they were male models. However, the next day when they popped into Beans they were wearing hardhats and brightly colored vests. Much to the girls' disappointment, they found out that they were really construction workers that were building a new extension on the Avengers Tower.

"Best coffee in town," guy one smiled. Darcy immediately started getting their drinks without them even telling her what they wanted. She made it a point to always memorize regulars orders. It impressed them and she always got better tips. Especially from the regulars who were too busy on their phone to be bothered to order for themselves.

"And the best muffins!" guy two added. He smiled at Darcy as he watched her get their coffees. "Not to mention the prettiest girl works here."

"Oh you guys! You're too sweet!" She giggled and batted her eyelashes playfully, as she handed them the drinks.

"See you tomorrow," guy one grinned, handing her his bank card. While she ran it through the register, he reached into his pocket and dropped some change into a jar. "And your tip."

"Why thank you!" Darcy said with a wave as the guys left. She turned back to Tessa, who was shaking her head in disbelief. "And, that's how it's done!"

"You're amazing, Darcy. Simply amazing," Tessa laughed. "Now we just need to kick that up a notch to get more customers in here."

Darcy ducked down behind the counter to grab a new bottle of caramel flavored syrup. "We should have an ad on TV. It could go something like this–'C'mon down to Beans! We got great coffee, delicious muffins, hot girls, and we got rid of the rats finally!" she said in an over dramatic voice just as the door opened again, bringing in another customer.

Tessa looked up at the middle-aged man dressed in an immaculate dark grey suit. He had a mild-mannered look to him but at the mention of rats he arched his eyebrow, and Tessa shook her head quickly, eyes wide. "She was joking. We never had rodents," she said a bit loudly.

"What are you talking about? We did to have–"

"No, we didn't, Darcy," Tessa said clearing her throat. "Good morning, Sir!" The front door opened again and more people walked inside, it was starting to get rather busy now.

Darcy popped up over the counter with a bottle of syrup in hand and a deep blush on her face. Smooth, Darcy! Drive the customers away! She gave the older man a big smile and set the syrup on the counter. "Good morning! What can I get you?"

The man looked up at the menu for moment, resting his hand on the counter. "Medium House Roast, please," he said, looking back at Darcy. She thought she saw the corner of his mouth twitch slightly like he was suppressing a smile but it was gone so fast she wasn't certain.

"You got it. Can I have your name?" Darcy asked, grabbing a cup from the stack and a black marker. Next to her Tessa was already taking orders behind Phil, lining up empty coffee cups for Darcy.

"Phil," he replied.

Darcy smiled as she wrote 'Phil' on the cup. "It's getting cold out there, huh?" she tried to make a little small talk while she prepared his drink.

"It's getting there," Phil answered. His phone chirped and he pulled it out of his coat pocket and typed something while he waited for his drink.

Darcy filled the cup with coffee and snapped the lid on. "Phil," she called out, and he stepped over to the other side of the counter and took his drink when she handed it to him. "That will be $2.95"

Phil set the cup on the counter and reached into his pocket to hand her a five dollar bill. "You can keep the change."

Darcy smiled brightly. "Thank you! Creamer and sugar are over on the counter." She picked up the syrup and tilted the bottle. "Or would you like to try a shot a caramel in it?"

"No need to ruin a perfectly good cup of coffee with cream and sugar," he said astutely. "Or caramel."

Darcy laughed. "Well, how do you know it's good coffee? I haven't seen you in here before, and trust me ... I'm here all the time." She said putting the money in the register.

"I know a good cup of coffee when I see one," he replied, picking up his cup.

"A coffee connoisseur, huh?" Darcy gave him a toothy smile. The man nodded slightly and gave her the barest glimmer of a smile, more visible in the eyes than the turn of his mouth, Darcy thought. "Well, keep warm and have a lovely day!" she said with a wave.

This time Darcy was certain Phil actually smiled at her in return as his mouth quirked upward, walking out of the coffee shop with a nod in her direction. "He has gorgeous blue eyes" Darcy murmured to herself, watching him until he disappeared past the windows, not even realising she was speaking out loud until Tessa elbowed her gently. She turned to her colleague, who glanced pointedly at the row of empty cups waiting to be filled. "Oh!" Darcy blushed slightly before jumping back to the coffee machine to appease the waiting customers, temporarily putting "Phil" and his gorgeous blue eyes out of her mind. It wasn't until some twenty minutes later that the shop emptied again completely as the first morning rush died down. Tessa was wiping down spills around the counter while Darcy restocked the muffins and pastries.

"So... gorgeous blue eyes, eh?" Tessa ribbed her.

Darcy rolled her eyes, exasperated. "I can't believe I said that out loud."

"You should have told him that! Maybe he would have given you a bigger tip!" Tessa laughed, wiping some whipped cream off the counter.

Darcy placed some apple tarts inside the glass case. "I think he was eyeing my muffins. I should have offered him one. Maybe next time if he ever comes back."

"Eyeing your muffins?" Tessa laughed hysterically, tossing her dirty rag into the bin. "I bet he was, Darce!"

"What? Oh my god, Tessa!" Darcy couldn't help but laugh herself when she realized what Tessa meant. "Muffins is not code for boobs!"

"Oh, it totally is now! God, I wish I had your flirting skills. And your muffins. I'd definitely wear a low cut top to work everyday. If I had money I'd get boobs like you!"

Darcy snorted, and tossed a rag at Tessa. "My boobs are a nuisance. I don't mind flirting and being sweet for tips, but I can't stand when guys ogle my body like I'm a piece of meat. Trust me after awhile you'd hate guys talking to your chest instead of your face."

"You know, I don't think I'd mind that," Tessa giggled. The shop door opened up and more customers entered. Today was going to be one of those days where it was either dead or completely busy. Beans was right in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of NYC, a few blocks from Rockefeller Center and Stark Tower. Even though it located in an extremely busy part of town, Beans wasn't as popular as some of the other shops in the area so the stream of customers was frequently irregular. Darcy hated those types of days, she rather have it steady all day long.

She glanced over at Tessa. "Back to work," she said, and then turned to the man in front of her, and flashed him a smile. "Good morning! What can I get for you?"


	2. French Roast Monogamist

It is universally acknowledged amongst all the staff that SHIELD runs on coffee. The scientists mainline it, handlers are hardly ever without it, and a few years ago the intelligence analysts in HQ actually clubbed together to buy one of the top-end coffee machines that has since been secreted away and deemed highly classified to avoid misuse by other departments. Sure, mission prep and endless surveillance is usually also assisted by cheap junk food and inevitably bad takeout, but mostly it's coffee. From the frozen arctic base where SHIELD likes to send their problem agents to the hot wastes of the Sandbox dominated by research scientists, the same thick black sludge is ever present in coffee cups and thermoses.

Agent Phil Coulson has spent years familiarising himself with every bad and cheap blend of coffee in his years as a field agent and a handler as a matter of necessity. Sometimes you just can't afford to care where the coffee comes from as long as there's a cup in front of you as you move from one crisis to the next. But in between missions… that's a different story. Phil Coulson liked to take his time over a particularly good cup of coffee. Not necessarily the first one of the day, that was just to wake up, but certainly the second one, especially if he had time to make it from his stash of favorites. The darker and richer the flavor the better. In fact, the very first thing he thing he did when Director Fury promoted him to a post high enough to warrant his own office was to bring in his own grinder and coffee machine so he could finally put the SHIELD sludge behind him. The security system on the drawer that held his favorite French Roast blend was as sophisticated as the one one for the classified filing cabinets behind his desk.

His coffee machine was one of the items he did not get back after he was eventually allowed to leave medical and begin months of physical therapy. That, and his Captain America trading cards. Nick Fury may have been Phil's closest friend of long-standing, but even he drew the line at being harangued over a coffee machine which was cleared out with the rest of Phil's office when he was first declared dead. Phil eventually let it go and by the time he was deciding on what to do now that it looked like he was going to be permanently stationed in New York City as the SHIELD liaison to the Avengers, he found himself with keys to a suite in Tony's Stark tower, which came with a kitchenette and a coffee machine that cost more than his first car. In fact, once he saw the gleaming appliance on his first tour, he looked around the place once more and realized that while Stark may have designed the space, it was Pepper Potts' influence visible in all of the decorating. He had to sit down then, on his new couch, in his new living room, as he struggled to rein in the unexpected emotion of being welcomed into this bizarre family of screwed up people whose broken edges seemed to fit together in unexpected ways. He blamed the moment of weakness on his still-recovering body, and Pepper let him keep that fiction as she politely left him alone in his new place to pull himself back together. It was the moment he truly accepted that he had been right to turn down Fury's offer of a mobile command and a new team in favor of returning to the Avengers.

Now, a year and a half after the Battle of New York, he tried not to think too much about those first few months after he woke up in medical with just Fury for company. The earlier memories were foggy anyway, tinged with drug induced dreams and constant pain followed by the sense of futility and frustration as he struggled to teach his body to obey his commands once more, pushing himself to the limits until forced to back off by his physical therapist. So when he was finally able to leave the safety of his apartment at the newly rechristened Avengers Tower and wander into the city on his own, he rewarded himself with a stroll to his second-favorite coffee shop. His first favorite unfortunately got crushed by one of the Chitauri behemoths.

Now he was back to full strength, back to terrorising junior agents who failed to perform to his standard, and a daily routine when there wasn't a crisis threatening the world. He often spent his mornings at SHIELD HQ, keeping himself up to date on the intelligence stream and the ever growing number of threats SHIELD monitored so that he would know which operations could best use the Avengers and which might require the assistance of just one or two of the team members. He would have his first cup of coffee at home, sometimes while sharing the newspaper with Natasha, and then on days when the weather was cooperative he would walk to SHIELD, taking different routes sometimes to explore the latest coffee shop that had opened and have his second cup of coffee on the way. That was how he found himself at Beans one morning. The place had been opened for a while but it was a little bit out of his way so it wasn't until a particularly fine, crisp November day when he managed to leave home earlier than usual that he decided to swing by there for his traditional second cup.

His very first impression was not perhaps ideal, clearly entering into the middle of some private less-than-flattering banter amongst the staff. His second impression, however, was of a medium-height girl with wide blue eyes and full red lips that at that very moment were making a horrified "o" shape. A blush was delicately staining her cheeks and she absentmindedly moved her hand to swipe away wisp of dark brown hair that must have escaped her ponytail and fallen over her face as she had been bending over behind the counter. To her credit, she recovered quickly, flashing him a megawatt smile and asking for his order. Phil honestly didn't need to look, though he made the show of checking out the selection before ordering the House Roast. It was his go-to order that would determine whether he came back to a place to try anything else. There were only a few things worse in Agent Coulson's book than messing up a cup of French Roast coffee. These few things included incomplete mission reports, other handlers messing with his agents, and Agent Sitwell trying to break into his personal coffee stash. Last year he added being stabbed through the heart by an alien god to that short list.

He had to work to suppress a smile at the infectious cheer that seemed to emanate from the curvy barista in front of him as she chatted while making his coffee. He had caught the name tag pinned to her apron when he first looked at her, and filed it away like he did with all other pieces of information he absorbed regularly, replying unthinkingly to her small talk while checking the latest message on his phone. The rich aroma of the coffee made him look up again as he finished typing out a message to Pepper. The scent was promising and he admitted as much while he turned down the cream and sugar and sugar, suppressing another smile as the barista called him a coffee connoisseur, Over the years Agent Barton had come up with many different creative expressions to convey the same sentiment while managing to make it sound either offensive or inappropriate at the same time. The standard "Coffee Nazi" usually meant Barton was too distracted or too injured to get particularly inventive. Phil's personal favorite was "French Roast Monogamist" and Barton's voice floated up in his memory of that mission. _"Wait, is it possible to have the words 'French' and 'monogamist' in the same sentence, sir? Isn't that like one of them 'jumbo shrimp' conundrum things?"_

He took his first sip after he had left the coffee shop, and this time he did smile. It was a good blend, well made. The coffee beans were definitely freshly ground and the water was the perfect temperature. He savored his next few sips as he weaved in between pedestrian traffic and an image of the barista's wide smile and blue eyes flashed in his mind unbidden. Then the wide smile was replaced by another woman's face - older, her smile more secretive. Phil swallowed down his coffee and only someone with eyes like Hawkeye would have noticed a small hitch in his step at the change in his thoughts. Why did he have to think about Samantha now? Especially with that soft and coy look on her face, the one she only showed him when she played the 'cello just for him, dressed in nothing but lacy lingerie. That part of his life was gone, taken away even before Loki and his alien army. Lost to too much secret keeping and competing careers. _Romanoff is right,_ Phil thought, _love is for children. Even death could not keep me from my job..._

The smell of his coffee brought Phil back to the present as he kept walking and he was almost relieved when his phone rang.

"Yes, Ms. Potts," he answered. And just like that, the barista and his ex-girlfriend were out of his mind. It was time to get on with his day and none too soon, because Phil Coulson did not want to ask himself why the two women appeared in his thoughts at the same time.

 

* * *

 

By noon he had finished nearly all of the reports that had been in his in tray at his SHIELD office and he had moved on to finalising the details of a complex infiltration mission that required a high caliber sniper. He was loathe to use Barton on ordinary missions now that the agent was an Avenger, but sometimes his superb skills and a well placed arrow or three could help SHIELD neutralize a growing threat before it got bad enough to require more than one Avenger. He was supposed to be having one of his monthly lunches with Pepper now but she had called to reschedule again as yet another unexpected business meeting concerning the latest SI venture popped up on her calendar. They met as regularly, both because they enjoyed each other's company and to keep the working relationship between Stark Industries and SHIELD running smoothly, and occasionally to trade tips on Tony Stark wrangling techniques. But they both knew the demands of each others business without having to make anything more than the token apology these days when the unexpected happened. So instead of heading out to lunch he reviewed the mission plans again and winced mentally as he contemplated the two weeks Barton would end up spending in the field. He would have to find something to occupy Agent Romanoff during this time. She was a lot calmer now that Barton was mostly recovered from his own experience as Loki's thrall, but she still got twitchy whenever he was sent off solo, even if very few people were able to notice it. Phil tried to keep her busy by calling her in to assist him with intel gathering and analysis and additional training sessions. Junior agents began to fear Barton being sent out into the field because Coulson would unleash the Black Widow on them in hand-to-hand combat sessions. Deputy Director Hill once asked if it was fair to let Romanoff take her issues out on the younger agents in this manner but Director Fury just brushed it off. "I am not above using Romanoff's personal anxiety about Barton to make our people better agents" he had replied sternly, but Phil was sure at the time that Fury was inwardly laughing. He had too, at some of the reactions Romanoff elicited when he watched security footage from Romanoff's training sessions. One or two agents would inevitably reconsider their decision to try fieldwork. Most would simply bear the bruises and blows to their egos and absorb the lessons as best they could. Once in a great while, someone would earn a rare compliment from the Widow. Those agents' names were noted for advanced training.

Phil's train of thought was interrupted as he was putting together a fresh training roster and he reached for his phone, taking his eyes away from the computer screen only long enough to note Director Fury's name flashing on the incoming call.

_"Is everything all set for the Sunrise Op?"_ Fury barked in his customary manner, not bothering to return Coulson's perfunctory greeting. Coulson stopped typing and pulled out the folder he has put away earlier, flipping it open even though he had the contents memorized. "Yes, sir. Wheels up tomorrow at 0600." Coulson kept his voice strictly neutral but on the other end of the line Fury sighed. This was the downside of their long-standing friendship.

_"Coulson, I know you still have reservations about Agent Ryan overseeing this mission, but his performance has been exemplary for three years now. I cannot sideline him just because you still bear a grudge against him."_

Phil resolutely refused to get riled up over the Director's choice of words. "With all due respect, sir, I do not bear a grudge against him. I'm more concerned that he bears a grudge against Barton. You know they nearly came to blows after Barton was reinstated last year."

_"He seems to have taken the lesson from that Albanian mission to heart. I am counting on his professionalism to keep personal opinions out of the way."_ There was a pause on the other end of the line and Phil pressed his lips together. He knew he wasn't going to like whatever the Director was going to say next. _"Coulson, you know that a lot of people felt that way about Barton last year after Loki. Ryan's just the only one who was dumb enough to say it within Barton's earshot."_

Phil swallowed his immediate retort and snapped the file closed. "It's irrelevant now, Director. The mission will proceed as arranged."

_"Good, proceed to mission brief then."_

In the privacy of his office, Phil glared at the closed mission folder in front of him, before sighing silently, saving the document he was working on, and rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. He will hold the briefing meeting, send off his agents, and then take out his frustration at the gym, Phil decided. And maybe then indulge in a cup of his French Roast coffee. That always made him feel better.

 

* * *

 

Phil didn't know why he was back in that coffee shop. In fact, Phil couldn't explain to himself why he had dropped by that coffee shop almost every day since his first visit four days ago, despite it being somewhat out of his way to work. So he concentrated instead on observing the two girls behind the counter as he waited in line to order.

It was the same pair of girls again as on his first visit, he noted, with the slim auburn-haired girl taking the orders behind the till while the striking brunette barista ( _Darcy_ , his mind absent-mindedly supplied the previously noted name) bustled behind the coffee machine, flying from order to order with practiced ease. He had arrived at the tail end of the morning rush hour this time and without quite realizing what he was doing, he found himself hanging back a little, casually observing the barista and her customers. Ostensibly, a part of his mind was going over his morning schedule and mentally composing a report he was putting together on the currently ongoing Operation Sunrise, but with another corner of his mind he noted the easy banter between the girls and the construction workers from the Avengers Tower extension that went under construction a few weeks ago. The must be regulars, he realized, noting that Darcy even knew some of their names. He noticed a girl from Stark Industries' legal department, permanently attached to her Blackberry.

He was mentally reviewing the list of agents scheduled for Agent Romanoff's next combat seminar when his mind suddenly refocused sharply on the middle-aged, portly man in an ill-fitting suit and a stained jacket queuing behind the SI lawyer, who was already busy pouring the contents of several sugar packets into her coffee cup. Phil noticed that the easy stream of chatter between Darcy and her colleague ( _Tessa,_ Phil's mind again supplied unnecessarily as his eyes quickly scanned over the girl's apron and name tag) stuttered to a halt and Darcy's progress with the coffee machine sped up even more. It took a moment for Phil to realize he was actually frowning when the man began outright leering at the barista while trying to strike up a conversation. He forced his expression to relax and tipped his head slightly as Darcy set his coffee on the counter and deftly avoided the man's grasp as he tried to casually make physical contact while simultaneously reaching for the cup. Undeterred, the man continued to grin lecherously as he murmured his thanks but instead of the same light flirtation Darcy had been exhibiting so far, Phil noticed her expression harden and her back stiffening defensively as she raised her voice slightly to interrupt the man in his oily monologue.

"Hey, buddy." Darcy snapped waving her hand and then snapping her finger up to her face. "I've told you before, my eyes are up here."

Out of the corner of his eye, Phil saw Tessa fumble with another customer's change as she tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to look like she wasn't keeping an eye on her colleague, but once the words left her mouth, Darcy simply turned back to the coffee machine, moving away from the open counter space. Her back still stiff but to all other outward appearances looking like she had simply shrugged off the encounter. As the customer in front of him stepped up to order, Phil hung back a bit more, casually tracking the seedy businessman's progress as he made his way out of the coffee shop, scowling. When he glanced back up to Darcy and Tessa, they had restarted their previous chatter, with the extra tension around Darcy's shoulders being the only indication that something unpleasant had happened.

"Are you sure you're going to be ok opening on your own for on Friday?" he heard Tessa say. It must have been a previous point of discussion because Darcy rolled her eyes lightly.

"I told you, I'll be fine. I can do a lot of the prep for baking tomorrow when it's quiet and then on Friday Enrique will be in here by the time it's likely to start getting busy."

Phil saw Tessa look up at Darcy with a horrified expression. "Tomorrow?" she squealed? "You're going to come in on Thanksgiving?"

_Thanksgiving!_ Phil started. He had lost track of the days with the active mission he was monitoring. With an internal huff, Phil also realized he had forgotten to finish his mental list of trainee agents and tried to force his mind back to its previous task. A treacherous part of his brain, however, insisted on staying engaged in the girls' conversation.

"It's just preparing the batter for the muffins and the brownies, Tessa! I'm not actually going to open the coffee shop." Darcy had been in the middle of saying.

"Still! It's freakin' Thanksgiving, Darcy! Even if you're staying in the city you should take the day to relax."

Darcy didn't respond to Tessa's last comment and Phil suddenly realized that instead she was looking at him expectantly and he was alone in the coffee shop. She narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at his face, before a smile spread on her lips.

"Phil, right?" She asked, reaching for a takeaway cup. "You were here a few days ago trying the House Roast, what did you think?"

Phil's only concession to being so unexpectedly addressed by a woman he had only spoken to for less than a minute four days previously was to blink slowly once before recovering. "Yes, good memory." he allowed a small smile but was unable to keep the words "I'm impressed" from escaping his mouth at the same time.

Darcy did not appear to notice Phil's own surprise at what he said and simply shrugged. "It's a skill."

"It was very good" Phil recovered quickly. "I've been trying to figure out what beans you're sourcing for that blend but it's eluding me."

Darcy's eyes twinkled mischievously as she as she reached for a cup and began preparing Phil's coffee without even looking to him for confirmation of his order. The rest of her face was schooled into a serious demeanor which was at odds with the mirth he saw in the blue irises. "It's classified" she stated boldly before winking at Phil and dropping her voice to an exaggerated conspiratorial whisper. "I could tell you, but I'll have to kill you."

Phil pinned Darcy with one of his piercing stares, arching an eyebrow. He knew the expression easily terrified the new agents he sometimes encountered, although Darcy's only reaction so far had been to laugh as she emptied the used up coffee grinds into a bin underneath the counter. Inwardly, Phil actively had to work at not breaking out into laughter. _Classified_ , he thought with a snort. _Been a while since I had that word tossed in my direction._ He couldn't quite conceal his amusement completely though so he smiled and winked back at the barista. "Well in that case then, I guess I'll have to keep drinking it until I figure it out myself."

He did not acknowledge to himself that the sound of Darcy's responding laughter was absolutely delightful, requesting a muffin instead to go with his coffee as he watched Darcy's expert hands flying through the preparation. (He refused to admit that Darcy's comment about batter for muffins intrigued him. Were her baking skills on par with her barista ones? He was just feeling snackish. That was the only reason he ordered the muffin. Absolutely.) He made sure to drop another generous tip into the jar next the cash register, suddenly having a greater appreciation for how full it was now that he had a better idea of Darcy's attention to the passing customers. She flashed him a genuinely warm smile and he could not help but return it. He noted that she did not bother pointing him toward the milk and sugar.

"Happy Thanksgiving." he said to her as he collected his beverage.

"Thanks, you too." Darcy replied, but for the second time that morning Phil saw the smile slip from her face. It wasn't quite so obvious this time around, but for a second, Darcy's eyes were no longer sparkling but where hauntingly sad. However she recovered just as quickly, although her smile was more forced now.

Phil took a sip of his coffee as he stepped out of the coffee shop, heading toward SHIELD. The subtle flavor of the blend combined with the aroma instantly put him at ease. This was even better than he remembered it on the first day. As soon as that thought popped into his head, however, Phil mentally shook himself. He did not want to contemplate the ridiculous thought that his coffee tasted better today than the last three days simply because it was made by Darcy and not other staff in Beans. However, this left him wondering instead why someone like Darcy would be so sad on the day before Thanksgiving. For some inexplicable reason Phil realized he wanted to fix whatever the problem was. That expression of sadness simply did not belong on Darcy's face.

_Stop it,_ Phil sternly told himself. _You're not a moonstruck, love sick teenager with a crush._ As one of the most senior agents of SHIELD he had no difficulties with mental discipline so he should not be woolgathering about a girl probably less than half his age that he's laid eyes on twice while walking to work. He had an agent in a warzone with a twenty man team and a twitchy assassin at home to keep busy.

With a mental shake Phil picked up his step and tried to put Darcy the barista out of his mind again. The mental discipline was successful to a degree: throughout the rest of the day, he refused to dwell at all on the fact that he was only partially successful at not thinking about Darcy, the coffee girl.


	3. House Roast Twist

The rest of the day was quite busy for Beans with a steady stream of customers coming in and out of the shop as they did their last minute preparations for Thanksgiving. Darcy and Tessa worked non stop as they filled coffee cup after coffee cup, handing them to the customers and wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving. Most of the people wished them a Happy Thanksgiving back, but there were some that just muttered something under their breath and rolled their eyes. That's kind of how Darcy felt too. Of course, her sister said to just show up for Thanksgiving at their parents even though she wasn't invited, but Darcy had no intentions on doing that. There was already going to be enough drama at the Lewis house without her being there. Besides, it was too late to go home now, so she was stuck here in New York with her microwaveable turkey dinner. It wouldn't be bad though, it was just one day where everybody overdoses on turkey and pie and falls into a food coma.

What a lame holiday.

Darcy sighed though as she wiped some coffee grounds from the countertop. Her eyes glanced up at the wall clock– it was almost six-thirty now and finally the shop was quiet again. Beans was closing up early tonight for the holiday which meant Darcy would either have to find something to do in the city or go back to her apartment and she hated spending anymore time than she had to at that place. Especially since the heat still wasn't fixed yet and it was cold as shit outside. She had fallen asleep last night bundled up in all of her blankets, with a hot water bottle, and the stray cat that took up residence on her fire escape months ago for extra warmth.

Darcy turned her head and looked at Tessa when she heard a giggle escape from the girl's mouth. "What?"

"That guy was here again," Tessa replied, as she refilled the sugar packet container.

"Are you talking about Lech?" Darcy asked with a roll of her eyes and groan as she thought back to the businessman who popped into Beans more than he was welcome. He always tried to flirt with Darcy but went around about it in such a slimy way that it made her stomach churn. The girls 'affectionately' gave him the nickname of Lech because he was such a lecherous slime ball. "I swear, I'm going-"

"Eww! No, I'm not talking about him. Although, yeah, next time he tries to paw at you, I'm going to have to hold myself back from jumping over the counter and kicking his ass." Tessa shook her head as she tried to shove more packets into the little black container. She looked up and smiled widely at Darcy. "No, I'm talking about that other guy. You know ... Mr. Blue Eyes," she said with a wink.

_Oh that guy._  Phil. Phil with the straight up black House Roast. Phil- with the insanely gorgeous blue eyes. Darcy bit the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning at the thought of him smiling and winking at her today. It was the second time that he had shown up at Beans while she was working and from the sound of it he wasn't going stop coming in until he figured out what blend the House Roast was. At that thought Darcy did actually smile and Tessa laughed.

"So what do you think he does?" Tessa asked hopping off the barstool and walking the sugar over to the back counter. "I'm betting money he's an accountant."

"An accountant?" Darcy scrunched her eyebrows together and reached for her bottle of water to have a quick drink. "You think?"

"Totally. He's just got that look to him. I'm not talking about an accountant from some mom and pop shop. I'm talking about, like he probably works for some high-powered executive, like Donald Trump or Tony Stark ... some important billionaire." Tessa shrugged. "Did you see his suit? Not a single wrinkle anywhere to be seen. And his shoes? They're those fancy Italian leather ones. You know ... ones that cost a lot of cash. Definitely works for someone who pays him a lot of money and needs him to look snappy at all times."

Darcy burst out laughing. She loved when Tessa went off creating little stories about the customers who came into Beans. Darcy was liked to do it too, but Tessa could really conjure up some good ones. "So Phil's an accountant?"

Tessa nodded. "Yup. To Trump or Stark ... I've got a good feeling about this one," she laughed, wagging her finger at her friend. "But what do you think?"

Darcy twisted her lips in thought as she poured more water into the coffee machine. Honestly she had no idea. Usually she could come up with something but Phil really stumped her. He didn't seem like a businessman or an accountant, he just gave off a totally different feeling and it was one that she couldn't place. "I don't know," she shrugged, snapping close the lid on the machine. "Stockbroker?" She threw out an answer even though that didn't sound right to her either.

"Stockbroker? Nah, he's too-," Tessa started to say but the front door chimed and both girls turned back to look to see who had come in.

"Happy Thanksgiving, bitches!" A well-built, but scruffy looking man shouted as he threw his arms out wide, walking into Beans. Darcy groaned inwardly and wanted nothing more to roll her eyes at Rick Anderson, Tessa's Grade A loser boyfriend. He took off his hoodie sweatshirt and tossed it on the front counter, revealing his tattooed muscular arms in a tight white t-shirt. He plopped down at the counter and grabbed a muffin from the platter that Darcy was preparing to set inside the pastry case.

"Those are three dollars," Darcy grumbled, placing a batch of pumpkin muffins in the case. She knew Rick had no intentions on paying for it. He never paid for anything. She thought back to the time where she went out to dinner with Tessa and him and how he ordered an expensive meal and when the bill came he confessed he was broke. So between Darcy and Tessa they managed to scrounge up just enough to cover it. Tessa and him fought all the way back to subway, and broke up. But the next day they were back together. Tessa always forgave him and took him back in the end because she couldn't see what a complete tool he was.

"Rick don't talk like that," Tessa said with a small smile on her face, putting the leftover sugar packets back in the box. It was one of those smiles you gave when you were embarrassed for someone's actions but weren't completely sure what to say or do. Tessa gave a lot of those smiles when Rick was around. "You do need to pay for those, hun. Darcy needs to get paid for her amazing baking skills."

Darcy watched at Rick completely ignored Tessa and continued to pull apart the muffin, dropping crumbs all over the counter as he shoved into his mouth. "These aren't as good as the blueberry muffins you made, Darce. They're pretty bland."

"That's not what the customers are saying," Tessa pursed her lips tightly together and shook her head. She looked up and smiled when a little old lady walked through the door and up to the counter.

Darcy glanced over as Tessa took care at the customer and then back to Rick who had polished off the muffin and now was raking his fingers through his goatee. "So you and Tessa are heading up to her parents' house tonight?" She hated talking to Rick but tried to be as civil as she could for Tessa's sake.

"Yup." Rick huffed and ran his hand over one of his biceps, like he was trying to show off his muscles. Darcy fought back a huge urge to roll her eyes. "I rather stay here and have beer and wings at Snake's apartment, but Tessa is insisting we go to her family's house."

"I'm sure it'll be fun," Darcy checked the contents of the House Roast container and made a mental note to herself to roast more tomorrow. "Tessa's family is great." Darcy had met the Clarks a few times and they were the nicest, funniest family she had ever met. They joked around with each other, played silly board games, they didn't take life too seriously, and, truthfully, Darcy wished her family was a lot more like them. Her family's holidays usually consisted of a catered dinner, her father spending most of the time on his phone at the table, and her mother raving over how wonderful her sister Erica was. Everything had to just be perfect, so perfect that her mother made an itinerary that had to be followed exactly. Sometimes Darcy wondered if her parents brought home the wrong baby from the hospital because she didn't feel like she fit in at all with her prim and proper family.

Rick laughed and Darcy raised her eyebrow. "Well, we got into a big fight about it last week. Once she told me her cousin Christine was going to be there, I decided that maybe going to her family's wouldn't be such a bad thing after all." He had that trademarked slime ball look on his face that made Darcy want to punch him so hard that he'd fall to his ass.

"You better treat her right, Rick." Darcy hissed, making sure that Tessa couldn't overhear them. She narrowed her eyes and leaned into him a bit. "I swear, you do anything to hurt her and I will hurt you."

Rick grinned. "I like it when you're feisty, Darcy," he whispered, reaching to touch her arm.

"Don't you even dare." Darcy clenched her jaw, and pulled back before he could paw at her. Why couldn't Tessa see what an asshole Rick was? She claimed she loved him, but how could you love someone who was a complete jerk? Darcy sighed inwardly as she answered her own question. Tessa was just like she was a few years ago. Picking all the bad guys who treated her like shit and only wanted one thing. Luckily, Darcy realized that she deserved better than just to be treated like a sex object. Too bad things didn't get better for her afterwards. She may not be with a loser boyfriend but now she dropped out of college, lost contact and respect from her family and friends, was working a low paying job, had a shit apartment that sometimes didn't have heat or water, and still continued to get hit on by jerks all day long. Her life could not possibly get any worse.

Darcy quickly scolded herself for playing the 'poor me' scenario again. As much as her life sucked right now, it could probably be a whole lot worse if she was still with a jerk of a boyfriend. Speaking of jerks- Darcy looked back at Rick and narrowed her eyes just a bit. "You're lucky to have someone like Tessa-"

"Are you guys talking about me?" Tessa said with a big smile on her face, walking over to them. She slipped her arms around Rick and kissed the top of his head.

Rick looked up and gave her a (fake) grin. "Always talking about you, babe."

Tessa grinned back and squeezed him tighter. "Good things?"

"Always," Rick replied looking over at Darcy, who had her eyes narrowed back at him. He smirked and looked up at Tessa again. "So we should probably get going if we want to beat the city traffic tonight. It's gonna be a bitch otherwise."

Tessa glanced up at the clock and nodded. "We should. Are you going to be okay closing up, Darce?"

"Yeah," Darcy smiled as best as she could. "You guys better get going. Have a nice time."

Tessa unwrapped her arms from around Rick and walked over to Darcy giving her a hug. "Are you sure you don't want to come? You could get a taxi tomorrow and have dinner with us. C'mon it'll be so much fun!"

The offer sounded really tempting all of the sudden. Darcy was never a big fan of Thanksgiving with all of her usual family drama, but at least she had never spent the holiday completely alone before. But no, she resolutely told herself. She had already told Brian she'd be there looking over the shop. "Eat a piece of pie for me," she replied, hugging Tessa back.

"God, you're so stubborn," Tessa giggled, grabbing her coat from the back room. Rick slipped his hoodie on and took Tessa's hand in his when she came back. "Be careful going home tonight. Lots of creepers out trolling the streets during the holidays. In fact give me a call when you get home so I'm not a worrying wreck all night."

"Yes, mother." Darcy rolled her eyes, but smiled, watching Tessa and Rick head to the door. Rick gave her a little wink and she glared back at him.

"Later, Darcy," he said pulling the door open.

"Bye, Darcy. Love ya. See you soon!" Tessa said with a wave as she Rick headed outside onto the street. Darcy hugged her arms around herself, ostensibly trying to keep warm from the cold air that blew into the shop, but also instinctively trying to ward off the overwhelming sense of loneliness as her loud and bubbly colleague vanished from the shop. With a deep sigh and a glance at the clock, she went back to work hoping to busy herself instead of dwelling on the fact that she was spending the holiday alone.

 

* * *

 

Thanksgiving had sucked even more than Darcy expected it to. She woke up in her shit apartment late and freezing her tits off. The heat was supposedly fixed by the landlord, but ended up shutting off again in the middle of the night. On top of that she was missed the subway to work and had to walk through the rain/snow mixture that was pouring down all over the city. Thank god Beans was closed today because it took her an extra forty-five minutes to get to the coffee shop. Darcy shucked off her wet coat and hung it up in the back room. She ducked into the bathroom, running her hand through her damp hair in front of the mirror, trying to fix her hair somehow before it became a total frizzy mess. After a minute of increasingly desperate attempts she finally pulled it back in a messy bun giving up any hope for actually making it decent looking. While her sister and mother had beautiful straight chestnut hair, Darcy was blessed with frizzy curls which took forever to style. She grabbed a mop and bucket from the storage closet and walked back into the main area of the shop. She had told Brian that she'd give Beans a total top to bottom cleaning for the holidays while she was doing some prep baking, and Thanksgiving seemed to be the perfect day to do it. Although an overnight with Tessa and loads of coffee and sugary treats would have been really fun, she really needed the overtime.

Darcy filled the bucket up with soapy water, looking up at the clock with a little smile. It was a quarter to eight, just about the time when Phil would pop in to get his House Roast. She closed her eyes for a moment as she shut off the water and imagined that little smile and wink he had given her the other day. Lots of guys smiled and winked at her but this was the first time where she actually felt her heart speed up and cheeks grow warm. God, those blue eyes. Darcy had never seen eyes like his–so blue and looking like they held many secrets. She hauled the bucket out of the sink and set it on the floor, beginning to mop the floor, wondering what Phil was doing for Thanksgiving. Probably sitting down to a fancy turkey dinner with his gorgeous wife and three adorable children in their high rise apartment in Manhattan. "Oh my god! I sound like Tessa now," Darcy laughed out loud as she swept the mop back and forth. Phil didn't have a wedding ring (she had checked the last time he came in) so maybe he was spending today with girlfriend or family.

Several swipes of the mop later, the silence in the shop began weighing on Darcy's mood and she sighed heavily as she dipped the mop back into the bucket. Regardless of who he was spending it with at least he wasn't alone like she was (that much she was sure of). He'd probably have a proper dinner and not a crappy microwaveable meal. Darcy huffed as she pushed the thoughts of 'Mr. Blue-Eyes' from her head and started to list the chores she wanted to accomplish today in between baking batches of muffins. She paused a moment from mopping and wandered over behind the counter where she pulled out the boom box that was stored in the bottom cabinet. If she wanted to make it through the whole day she'd definitely need some music to keep her company. She plugged her iPod into it and put her Rocker Chick playlist on. Darcy smiled, picking up her mop again and began to sway back and forth to the beat of Florence + the Machine. It was nice to have a little time to herself, she certainly wouldn't get much of a break tomorrow. It was Black Friday and was sure to be a crazy hectic day filled with manic shoppers who needed their fuel to make it from store to store. And maybe ... just maybe Phil would show up for his House Roast.

At least Darcy hoped he would.

 

* * *

 

Darcy had stayed at work until nine-thirty in the evening on Thanksgiving and was back at Beans at three-thirty Friday morning to open the shop at four. Brian wanted to open early to accommodate the shoppers. The city would be swarming with people trying to get a jump on their holiday shopping and Brian wanted to take advantage of that. Darcy had contemplated just sleeping in the back room since she had to be back so early. She probably would have if she would have remembered to pack clean clothes. Beans had heat and her apartment still did not.

She glanced down at her phone as she walked quickly through the streets with her coat pulled tightly around her. The rain/snow mix from yesterday shifted completely over to snow this morning and was settling down lightly on the sidewalks and the rooftops. This was her favorite time of year, and even though she probably wouldn't be spending Christmas time with her family, Darcy was determined that it wasn't going to put a damper on her holiday spirit. Yawning, she crossed the street and walked quickly up to the front door of Beans . There was a man wearing a huge red parka, leaning up against the building with a big grin on his face.

"Good morning, sunshine," he smiled, watching as Darcy dug the keys to the coffee shop out of her coat.

"Morning, Enrique. Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?" Darcy asked her coworker, opening up the front door.

"I did. Maria and the kids made a meal fit for a king," he nodded, holding the door open for Darcy for her to go inside. "Did you?" He followed her inside and shut the door, locking it until it was time to open.

Darcy sighed. "It was okay. I spent it here getting some prep baking done and some cleaning. It was alright, I guess."

Enrique took his coat off and grabbed a white apron, slipping it over his head. "If I would have known you were spending it alone, I would have invited you over," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "We had plenty of food."

Enrique was one of the hardest working guys Darcy knew, but he didn't make much at Beans. He also had three small children and a wife who had medical problems. They didn't have much and Darcy wouldn't have wanted to take anything from them. "Next time," she said with a smile as she began to fill the coffee machine with water.

"Tessa is off today?" Enrique asked, making sure that there were plenty of extra napkins under the counter. Nothing was worse that trying to hunt down supplies from the back room (or dungeon as they liked to call it) when Beans was swamped with customers.

"She's in Jersey with her family and ... Rick," Darcy rolled her eyes dramatically and shook her head. Just saying Rick's name made her mouth feel like it was filled with poison.

"I can't believe she's still with that guy," Enrique huffed slightly.

"Tell me about it. I feel like we need to throw her an intervention. She just can't see what a complete dick he is. I mean, he told me that the only reason he agreed to go to her parents house for Thanksgiving was because her cousin Christine was going to be there. What a fucking douchebag. Tessa is such a sweetheart, she does not deserve to be treated like that. No one does."

"Maybe I can push my nephew Juan towards her? He's a good kid that's majoring in microbiology. He'd doesn't have much luck in the girl department because he's a bit shy and clumsy around them." Enrique opened the microwave and whistled when he saw that all the stuck on crud had been removed. "You really did clean last night, didn't you!"

"Scrubbin' like a mofo," Darcy grinned. She really was proud at how well she cleaned Beans. She managed to get the oven clean, she had climbed on the counter to get the cobwebs on the ceiling down, and even tackled the mens restroom (which she prayed she never ever had to clean again). Now if she could only get her ass in gear to clean her own apartment. She was usually just too exhausted to clean when she got home from work. She had just enough energy to curl up on her threadbare couch with a cup of hot tea, a good book, and her kitty on her lap. It's not like she ever had any visitors over to her place anyways, so who really cared if her apartment was a pigsty?

Darcy sniffed the air and smiled when the aroma of the House Roast coffee hit her nose. It, was in fact, her efforts in convincing Brian to begin roasting coffee on site rather than buying it already roasted that got her promoted to shift manager and she had been responsible for sourcing coffee beans for the shop ever since. The House Roast blend had become her favorite scent ever since Phil had become so enamored with it. Now every time she smelled it she could see that slight secretive smile of his, and it made her feel good inside. When she was roasting more coffee beans for the House Blend last night she couldn't help but recall there short exchange about the ingredients and on a whim she tweaked the blend slightly, increasing the amount of Arabica beans she normally mixed in with a cheaper variety. She'd find a way to justify it to Brian later. She wondered if Phil would notice the subtle difference and the thought made her smile some more.

"What are you smiling at?" Enrique asked with an arched eyebrow as he walked over to the door to open up.

"Nothing," Darcy looked down at the cash register to hide her face.

"Is there a guy?" Enrique asked as he unlocked the doors. He grinned at her when she lifted her head to meet his gaze.

"There's no guy!" Darcy lied with a little chuckle and a shake of her head. Enrique was her friend but she didn't want to divulge her unexpected crush on Mr. Blue Eyes. It was bad enough that Tessa knew and was teasing her about it.

"So who is he?" He just wasn't going to let this go.

Luckily for Darcy, a horde of thirsty Black Friday shoppers came into the shop at that moment. She shrugged her shoulders at Enrique and he grinned back at her as he helped the first customer in line. The rest of the day was complete chaos so she and Enrique never got a chance to pick up the conversation. By the time Darcy stumbled out of Beans at three P.M. she was too exhausted to feel anything more than mild disappointment that Phil never showed. Instead of dwelling on it she turned to head toward home, her cold miserable apartment, and her cat.


	4. A Dash of Pepper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scarlet and I cannot take credit for the clever chapter title, which we think is very apt for this particular part of the story. I cannot remember where I encountered it, however, and I may have even possibly seen it in more than one place. We don’t want to steal anyone’s idea but we don’t know who to credit, so hats off to the unknown clever wordsmith. If you think it was your original idea let us know and we can credit you properly. ~ Rose

It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and Phil had enjoyed the rare privilege of a late(ish) morning, sipping his first cup of coffee at a leisurely pace while reheating oatmeal in the communal kitchen. Thor must have left the night before, Phil mused. Leftovers from Steve Rogers’ breakfast-making was almost always a sign that Thor was on a visit to Asgard. Phil’s mind wandered to the Thanksgiving meal three days ago, and then further back to Thanksgiving the previous year. 

Without even thinking about it his free hand moved to rub his chest over his scar. By the time the previous Thanksgiving had rolled around, the first one at the re-christened Avengers Tower six months after the team was first thrown together, they had become comfortable living with each other. Barton’s vent-crawling habits were no longer remarked-upon, and neither was Natasha’s habit of stashing wicked-looking knives all over the residence and communal floors. _For easy access, in case of emergency_ Romanoff had said, when the issue was raised the one and only time. Nobody wanted to risk their life asking why the weapons she always had on her person at any given time were not sufficient but everyone noticed that Natasha became more relaxed afterward. 

Thor came and went as his obligations to Asgard allowed, joining the team for sparring and movie nights with equal enthusiasm, brooding only whenever Jane Foster was out of town on conferences. Steve Rogers sketching in the pre-dawn hours in the living room was as much a fixture as Tony in his workshop, and anyone having trouble sleeping would often find themselves gravitating to Steve’s silent company, watching the sun come up through the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan. Steve and Clint in particular developed a quiet rapport in those early morning hours. Whenever Clint would wake up from his nightmare of drowning in blue, when Natasha’s whispers in his ear and fingers stroking his back could not exorcise his demons, Clint would ghost his way into the range Stark built for him and methodically destroy target after target before quietly finding his way into the living room to sit in silence with Steve. Initially he watched the Captain from the safety of the vent above the common living room before Steve caught on to the archer’s presence. The next night there were two tumblers of Tony’s good scotch waiting on the table next to his pencils and Clint took it for the invitation that it was, silently joining Steve and watching the gentle light of dawn steal over the recovering New York City skyline. The alcohol may have had no effect on Steve, but he still appreciated the burn as it slid down his throat, chasing away the ice chill that was his own personal torment, as well as the silent companionship over a drink. 

Bruce took the longest to get settled, avoiding company for a long time and isolating himself in Tony’s R&D labs until Natasha, of all people, made it her mission to coax Bruce out of his shell by conveniently arranging for him to be shepherded into the communal kitchen after she convinced Clint to begin cooking. The two formed an odd friendship over preparing food, splitting dinner preparation between them frequently, bringing Bruce closer to the rest of the team over meals. And if swapping and comparing recipes had an equally soothing effect on Hawkeye, well, no one was going to complain about seeing less of their resident sniper scaling the vents and roaming the halls with a murderous expression. 

More home cooked dinners brought Pepper into their midst, looking as cool and composed in yoga pants and a t-shirt as she did in her business suits. In short order, Natasha and Pepper buried their differences over Natalie Rushman and struck up a terrifying friendship over games of chess as Pepper sought to decompress from her CEO responsibilities. 

Phil’s move into the Tower several months after the Battle of New York barely ruffled the newly-established routines. Phil was, in fact, taken aback at how his presence was accommodated with seemingly effortless ease, as if his return to the land of the living was as simple as adding an extra place setting at the dinner table. It was only after he questioned JARVIS in the privacy of his own suite did he discover the security video of an unresisting Fury taking a punch from Barton as the rest of the team made only half-hearted attempts to restrain the archer. Phil realized he had, perhaps, been lucky to miss the shit-storm the Director had to endure after declassifying his recovery from Loki’s spear. He spent some time watching footage of Barton having a quiet meltdown on the range before Natasha came to drag him into the sparring ring and beat him over and over until Clint snapped, losing his finely honed control as he collapsed on the mats in his lover’s arms, letting go of the guilt he had been carrying over his handler’s death. 

Romanoff herself did not need to be coaxed into releasing her anger. Whatever energy she did not expend on Clint she burned by bodily dragging Steve away from his paper and pencils and finally forcing him to take Clint’s place in the sparring ring. By the end of that session, an exhausted Natasha smiled in that terrifying fashion of hers. And a chastised Steve, bruises already fading thanks to the super soldier serum, promised that he would stop holding back in the ring with her.

Phil should not have been surprised that Tony dealt with his anger by enlisting Pepper’s aid in converting half a floor below the residential portion of the tower into a mini hospital, and then harassing Bruce into gathering a team of doctors to staff it. Phil _was_ surprised (and truth be told, flattered) that Steve needed no arm-twisting and was positively gleeful at his role of going up against Fury to wrest control of Phil’s care from SHIELD Medical to the Avengers. 

Perhaps most surprising to Phil was the intense expression of relief on Thor’s face when the Asgardian returned to earth, shaking the agent’s hand far more gently than Phil (still hooked up to IVs and monitors) thought possible. In retrospect, it was perhaps understandable, and even if the common cause was painful, Phil was glad to see Clint and Thor quietly becoming friends through their efforts of moving past their personal sense of guilt. 

With all that running under the surface of newly-established routines, Tony took it upon himself to turn Thanksgiving into an exuberant and lavish feast. For once, Pepper made no attempts to restrain his enthusiasm and merely turned his wild gesticulation and torrent of demands into smoothly laid plans and directions. Well on the road to recovery at that point, Phil had been incredibly touched by the quiet but heartfelt demonstrations from the Avengers at the feast. None more so than when Clint, rather reserved at the best of times, grabbed his former handler in a giant bearhug, his face reflecting all of the emotion that was usually hidden behind a mask of snark and sarcasm. 

There was no way the second Thanksgiving was ever going to live up to the excitement and drama of the first “so thankful you’re not dead, agent” event, but Clint’s absence on mission put an additional damper on the festivities. Unlike last year, Phil suspected a few influential words from Pepper in Tony’s ear steered him away from attempts to top his previous effort. In the middle of the meal a phone in Natasha’s pocket chimed, bringing out a smile as she decoded a text from Clint wishing them all a happy Thanksgiving. Phil knew that, since Loki, the pair stayed in touch via an ever-changing series of burner cell phones and a complex private code. He turned a blind eye to the unsanctioned communications on mission because it kept his two best agents grounded, but he spared a thought to hope that Barton kept the phone hidden from Agent Ryan this mission. 

A light poke to his ribs brought Phil out of his reverie, though he managed to keep the surprise off his face. Natasha stood next to him, meaningfully eyeing the oatmeal that Phil had been stirring absentmindedly. Phil cursed to himself as he turned off the stove and dished up a slightly scorched helping. 

“Sorry. Woolgathering,” he said, chagrined. Natasha merely quirked an eyebrow at him before moving on to grab a mug and select something from her collection of loose leaf tea. 

“Have you seen Pepper since Thursday night?” Natasha asked after a few minutes of companionable silence. “She’s cancelled our chess date three times in a row now.”

“No,” Phil replied, frowning. Not because it was unusual for Pepper Potts to be away from the Tower for days on end due to business, but because he couldn’t yet see where Natasha’s query was leading. Natasha’s questions were never idle and always tended to some hidden agenda. 

“Tony says she’s been working so much he actually had to remind her about Thanksgiving dinner or she would have missed it.”

Mild shock flickered across Phil’s face for a brief second before returning to his usual bland expression. “That must be a new experience for Stark.”

“He said he had a new-found appreciation for what it must be like to deal with him.” Natasha replied levelly, looking at Phil over the rim of her steaming mug. 

Phil’s brows furrowed further as he thought back to the last month. “She did cancel on our last two attempts at monthly lunch,” he mused out loud. 

Oh.

 _Oh._

Phil looked sharply at Natasha now that he had insight into her train of thought but she just arched her eyebrow again at him. 

“JARVIS?” Phil called out in between more hurried spoonfuls of oatmeal. “What is Ms. Potts’ schedule like today and where can I find her?”

Even after the year and a half living in the Tower, Phil was still privately amazed to detect what sounded like veiled relief in the A.I.’s voice. “I’m so glad you asked that, sir.”

\---------------------------

“Pepper, I’m sure the deal is not going to collapse if you step away from your desk for an hour.” Phil repeated patiently into his phone as he rode up the elevator in the office building that housed the some of Stark Industries offices a block away from the Tower. “Have you even eaten today?”

 _”My assistant brought a salad earlier, Phil. I’ll be fine.”_ Pepper’s voice sounded slightly frazzled through his earpiece. Phil just hummed non-committally, navigating his way through the empty hallways to just outside the CEO offices. A very grateful looking and exhausted assistant let him in quietly. In one quick glance Phil took in the rumpled clothes of the young man and the blanket carelessly thrown over one of the couches in the private reception area before speaking back into the phone.

“Ok, but have you actually left your office in the last 48 hours?” 

There was a pause on the other line as Pepper grasped for a possible answer that would not be a lie.

“That’s the wrong answer, Pepper.” Phil replied after a few beats coming to a standstill just in front of the closed door to the inner office. “You’re going to at least leave the building and go have coffee with me.”

 _“Oh, Phil, I don’t want to put you through the hassle if you’re home…_ Phil heard just as the door was pulled open to reveal an equally startled and exhausted Pepper. Her cell phone was pinched between her cheek and shoulder and the hand not holding open the door was awkwardly wrapped around a large stack of folders.

Phil put away his own phone and then gently reached forward to liberate Pepper’s phone from its precarious grasp, tossing it to the PA before turning back to relieve her of the folders. This finally shook Pepper into motion and she began to protest, but Phil just held up his hand after handing the files over to PA as well. 

“Pepper, I know it is not my place to interfere in your business, but when I hear that Stark becoming the voice of reason reminding you to stop working and eat, then I worry.” With placating smile but a firm grip on her elbow he was ushering her out the door before Pepper had a chance to protest further. “I know you’re anxious because this is the first deal SI is making in the Middle East on promoting renewable energy but there is nothing in the ground work that you have not already triple checked ahead of next week’s meeting. Also, I think your assistant needs a night in a proper bed and not the office couch.”

Pepper’s eyes darted between Phil and the suddenly nervous looking assistant before a letting out a defeated sigh.

“It’s ok, Tim.” She waved in the young man’s general direction. “I’ll forgive you this time for the conspiracy. Go home and get some rest. We’ll continue tomorrow.”

Tim was halfway out the door before Pepper even finished the sentence and she turned back to Phil with a wry smile. “Give me a few minutes to freshen up and then maybe you can show me this coffee shop you’ve been dropping so many hints about?”

Phil did not reply but his the broad smile that actually broke out on his face said everything necessary about his victory.

\---------------------

Beans was mostly a place people passed through quickly, grabbing their coffee on the way to somewhere else, but there were a several tables along the wall with chairs for those patrons who were looking for a more leisurely experience and Phil steered Pepper toward one of these at the rear of the coffee shop, making sure the CEO (valiantly trying to suppress a yawn) was sitting down before making his way over to the counter. Only one other table was occupied and a large hispanic man in his mid-thirties with a close-cropped head of dark hair a neat goatee was manning the till. It may have been the tail end of lunch hour but between it being a Sunday and still a holiday weekend, it was a slower day than usual for the coffee shop. Phil resolutely avoided thinking about the small pang in his chest which resolved immediately when the dark brunette head popped up over the top of the giant coffee machine, facing her co-worker.

Whatever she had been about to say was left hanging as she caught sight of the agent out of the corner of her eye. 

“Phil!” she exclaimed, a large smile spreading out on her face, transforming it radiantly. With his usual detached sense of observation, however, Phil noted the shadows under her eyes that Darcy had clearly tried to hide with make up and the slight slump in her shoulders speaking of exhaustion. 

“Enrique, this is Phil,” she continued. “Our House Roast connoisseur. Will it be your usual?” Darcy’s eyes flicked over to the corner table where she would only see Pepper’s back. Phil’s eyes briefly followed Darcy’s and he suppressed a sigh at seeing Pepper bent over her phone.

“You mean _your_ House Roast, Darcy.” Enrique’s voice pulled Phil’s attention back to the counter. “Everyone knows you’re the genius behind the vastly improved menu.” 

As Darcy rolled her eyes, Phil got the sense that this was an old exchange between the two co-workers but the young woman couldn’t hide a pleased look at the compliment. However, he also noted a slight increase to the tension around Darcy as her eyes kept wandering back to the redhead at the corner table.

“Yes, the usual please.” Phil answered. He again repressed the thought that he should not feel so inordinately pleased at _having_ a usual order in a cafe he had only recently started frequenting. “I am still determined to figure out your secret, after all.” He finished with a small smile playing at the edges of his mouth. He fished out his wallet, glancing back at his companion briefly. Darcy’s smile briefly took on a more mischievous hint as she began making Phil’s coffee but it vanished again with her next question. “And for your friend?”

Phil narrowed his eyes for a brief moment, tilting his head and examining the barista steadfastly. She was doing a pretty good job of convincing everyone else that she was completely absorbed in her task. Making up his mind quickly he smiled a little more and leaned forward. 

“Let’s make it a surprise, shall we?”

At that Darcy looked up, her startled expression quickly making way for one of anticipation. “Oh yeah?” she quirked her eyebrow. “Any allergies I need to be aware of?”

“Just strawberries,” Phil indicated. He leaned even closer over the counter in Darcy’s direction and dropped his voice conspiratorially. “You might want to go easy on the caffeine. I know she looks like she needs it right now but I’m trying to convince her to get some rest. Just don’t let her know that.”

Darcy looked positively gleeful. “Oooh, I do love a challenge. I might have just the thing, not from our usual menu. Does she like her coffee sweet or is she another purist like you?”

Phil contemplated the question briefly. “I think she’ll happily enjoy anything in moderation.” He finally replied. “I’ll also have two of your muffins.” He quirked his eyebrow back at her. “Are the ingredients of those also classified?” 

A hearty chuckle escaped Darcy’s throat as hands flew through a complicated routine that even Phil, with all of his accumulated coffee wisdom, didn’t quite follow. “Nah, not the ingredients. Just the recipe!” She jerked her head at Enrique, who had stayed quiet throughout the exchange after his compliment to Darcy, simply observing the interaction between the barista and Phil with a slightly satisfied smirk on his face, as if he had just discovered a missing piece to a puzzle. Enrique quickly took the hint, setting out two plates on a tray. But instead of reaching into the glass display case he turned to a covered tray behind him, fishing out two muffins from there which he placed on the plates, adding some paper napkins. “Irish Coffee muffins today. Fresh from the oven,” he winked at Phil, who handed him $15 dollars in bills. Enrique’s face struggled to hide his appreciative surprise when Phil put the entirety of the proffered change into the tip jar. 

He added Phil’s coffee, poured into a white ceramic mug this time instead of the usual paper takeout cup, to the tray which Phil accepted. “We’ll bring over your friend’s coffee in a moment.” Enrique said, glancing at Darcy. She had ducked away behind a door for a minute returning with a carefully balanced ceramic mug into which she was now slowly pouring expertly frothed milk, and sprinkling something from a mystery spice jar, her face furrowed in intense concentration. Phil nodded to Enrique and walked back to his table, habitually sitting down at an angle so that he could see both the front door and the majority of the patrons passing by the cash register. 

He set down the two plates and his own coffee, sliding the tray out of their way to the side, and then patiently extended his hand to Pepper, waiting until she took notice. 

“Sorry,” she said with a sigh, placing her phone in Phil’s outstretched palm. 

“A half hour won’t hurt.” He said pocketing Pepper’s phone with a smile. “I’ll give it back to you before we leave, I promise.”

Pepper leaned forward, propping an arm on the table and resting her chin in the palm of her hand. She still managed to look utterly composed on the outside but Phil knew her well enough to see that this was Pepper at her most unguarded in public. He was about to open his mouth to try and persuade her to actually return to the Tower when he saw Darcy approaching with a second mug. Instead of speaking he picked up his own, taking a careful but deep swallow of the dark brew. A slightly different concentration of flavours rolled around on his tongue and he carefully concealed his surprise. 

“There you go,” Darcy said, carefully setting down the mug in front of Pepper while the CEO sat back, taking her elbow off the table and instead placing her palms flat on either side of the mug. Phil suspected it was an old boardroom trick she wasn’t even aware she employed anymore. “Let me know what you think.” 

The mug Darcy set down looked like it held an ordinary cappuccino, with a perfect fern shape drawn on the surface. However two twisted strips of lemon and orange peel adorning the side gracefully indicated this was not an ordinary drink and Phil immediately detected a complex combination of spices when the smell from the steaming mug drifted his way. 

“Thank you,” Pepper said, looking up with a smile that hid most of her exhaustion. Darcy’s eyes widened slightly and Phil suspected she had just recognised the CEO as the girl aborted a move to fidget with her hands and half-stepped back, clearly trying to decide if she should leave the customers alone or stay until Pepper tried her drink. The awkwardness melted Phil’s heart a little and he decided to try and help her.

“Pepper, let me introduce you to Darcy. She makes the best coffee I have ever had the pleasure of drinking” he said, gesturing to the barista with the hand that wasn’t curled around his own coffee mug. “Darcy, this is Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries and a good friend of mine.”

Darcy blushed immediately at the compliment and opened her mouth, possibly to try and brush it off, when Pepper smiled and held out her hand to Darcy. The girl took it on instinct, trying to hide the slightly overwhelmed look in her eyes and reassert her usual confident demeanor. “D-Darcy, Darcy Lewis.” She stuttered slightly. “It’s an honor to meet you, Ms. Potts,” Darcy exclaimed in a big rush when she let go of Pepper’s hand. “You were always my role model in college. I wrote about your work with the Stark Philanthropic Foundation when we had to write essays on Women in Business...” Suddenly Darcy’s hands flew down to her sides, first clenching and then grasping the edges of her black apron and her nervousness returned full force. She looked like she was about to flee and only Pepper’s voice held her from bolting. 

“Why thank you, Darcy!” Pepper replied. Phil knew she had donned her CEO mask but the smile she bestowed on the young woman held genuine warmth and it reflected in her eyes. “That is quite a compliment, I’m the one who should be honoured! Where did you go to college?”

Instead of putting her at ease Phil could see that the question pushed Darcy into even greater unease and he interceded again. “Pepper, you should try your coffee before it gets cold,” he chided gently. “I guarantee you won’t regret coming here.”

“Oh right! Of course!” Pepper exclaimed, picking up the mug with her two hands and carefully taking a sip. Out of the corner of his eye Phil could see Darcy carefully taking a breath, smoothing her hands over her apron slowly. It was not totally obvious but reading people’s expressions accurately was second nature to him for years. Phil knew that Darcy was carefully pulling herself back together and he couldn’t help but wonder why her brief conversation with Pepper upset her so much. 

“Oh my god!” Pepper’s exclamation interrupted Phil’s thoughts. “This is amazing!” The CEO’s eyes were wide open after a second, bigger gulp of her coffee. She looked up at Darcy. “This… wow… What is in here?” She sniffed the aroma, closing her eyes briefly. 

Back on familiar ground, a much more comfortable expression stole over Darcy’s face. “It’s something I’m experimenting with, actually. It’s my cross between a cappuccino and a Mediterranean coffee.” Phil’s eyebrows shot up. He had heard of this drink but had never tried it himself, he seemed to recall hearing something about it needing to be slow cooked. 

“I can definitely taste some cinnamon and cloves.” Pepper said, opening her eyes again. 

“Yes,” Darcy nodded. “There’s also chocolate in there and anise, and I added a dash of ..um… cayenne pepper…” Darcy blushed a little. “No pun intended. And I’m adding steamed milk instead of whipped cream.” 

“Well, I am definitely impressed.” Pepper exclaimed again. “Phil, you weren’t kidding! This is the best coffee I’ve ever tasted!”

Phil smiled smugly. “I told you,” he replied, his gaze shifting from Pepper to Dacy, whose blush was deepening as she shifted from one foot to another mumbling a thank you. “I’m curious, however.” he held up his own mug. “What happened to the House Roast?”

A mischievous twinkle appeared in Darcy’s eyes as she schooled her expression into one of innocence that didn’t fool Phil for a minute. “Something happened to the House Roast?” 

Phil narrowed his eyes and kept his expression zeroed in on Darcy. Romanoff and Fury were the only people who could resist his glare and Darcy was no match, breaking into a smile quickly. “Aww Phil, I’m impressed!” she relented “You’re right. I tweaked the blend a little, increased the portion of Arabica beans.” Her lips twitched “I was wondering if you’d notice.”

Phil kept her pinned with his gaze for a moment longer before allowing a smile. “It does have a slightly more intense flavor now.” He conceded. 

“I know, right?” Darcy nodded enthusiastically. “To be honest, I could make it even better, but most people can’t tell the difference and I couldn’t really justify the increased cost to the manager.” She cocked her head, contemplating something for a moment. “You know, Phil…” Darcy hesitated for a moment before continuing. “I could probably keep a small supply of a higher quality blend for you but it would be more expensive.”

“You know what?” Phil tilted his head and smiled at the barista before leaning forward in his seat. “Why don’t you surprise me next time.” 

It took a moment for the words to sink in but as soon as they did a huge grin spread on Darcy’s face? “Really? Oh my god, Phil. You’re so not going to regret this! I’m off tomorrow, but I’ll start on the blend first thing on Tuesday!” All of Darcy’s earlier uncertainty and panic were gone, and although Phil could still see the traces of exhaustion, Darcy was exuding nothing but excitement now. “So, do you guys need anything else? I should get back to the counter.” 

“No, thank you.” Pepper spoke up and Phil shook head. 

“Well, just shout at me or Enrique if you do.” Darcy smiled at the pair before turning away and returning back to the counter. 

Phil watched Darcy walk away before his eyes flicked back to Pepper. She was watching him carefully over the rim of her mug. Phil arched his eyebrow at her inquisitively but Pepper simply returned the expression with one of her own. The moment of silence stretched out between them and Phil was reluctantly coming to the conclusion that Pepper might soon be added to that two-person list of people who could outstare him. Belatedly Phil wondered if Pepper had begun using his own technique against him.

“What?” he finally broke. 

“Nothing.” Pepper hid her smile in her mug, taking a deep satisfying gulp of the coffee. But Phil wasn’t having any of that. This time it was Pepper’s turn to sigh and respond. “I just don’t think I’ve ever seen you flirt with anyone before.”

 _Flirt?_ Phil’s mind stuttered to a halt and his eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

“Flirt?” he blurted out.

“Oh, Phil…” Pepper looked at him endearingly. _Shit_ Phil thought. _That’s my ‘Barton’s said something adorably ridiculous’ look._ A small part of his mind idly worried about the day when Pepper might turn his own ‘Barton’s said something just plain stupid’ look against him, or worse ‘Barton’s _done_ something extremely stupid’ look. With a mental shake he tried to restart his brain and regain control over the conversation but Pepper beat him to it again. “She was definitely flirting with you and you were responding.”

“I…. Um….” _Dammit_ Phil took a deep breath and collected his scattered wits. “I’m sure she’s just being doing her job and earning her tip.” He concluded, somewhat lamely. 

“ _Phil_ ”

He winced. There it was, the ‘Barton’s said something just plain stupid look’. That didn’t take too long. 

“I don’t know how long you’ve been coming here, Phil, but I promise you, no one offers to create a special blend just to score some extra tips.” 

Phil frowned deeply. All of the stray thoughts he had been sternly ignoring over the last week or so flitted through his brain despite his efforts to quash them. 

“She’s probably less than half my age, Pepper. That’s just... wrong. You’re very kind, but I know I look like a middle aged accountant with a receding hairline. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she thinks I’m your accountant.”

Pepper snorted. “Yeah, she might still think you’re my accountant, but I bet you before you introduced me she was more worried that I was your girlfriend rather than your boss.”

Phil had absolutely no comeback to this and Pepper reached across the narrow table, taking his free hand in her slender, perfectly manicured ones. “Phil, you haven’t seen anyone since you recovered. I know you miss Samantha, but…”

Phil visibly flinched. He and Sam both chose their careers over each other. He didn’t know if he had the fortitude to have to make that kind of a call again. “She’s too young, Pepper.” He repeated weakly, swallowing, trying to latch onto any excuse to quash those feelings he had been resolutely ignoring since discovering Beans.

“Well, maybe that’s exactly what you need, Phil!” Pepper patted his hand before drawing back. “Someone to make _you_ feel younger.” 

The sound of Pepper’s phone ringing in Phil’s jacket interrupted the heavy conversation and Phil handed the phone back to her, sighing internally at the name on the display. He never thought he’d be so happy to be interrupted by Tony Stark for any reason. 

He listened distractedly to Pepper’s side of the conversation, abstractedly noting with relief Pepper’s confirmation that she’d be heading back to the Tower. 

“He says he owes you one for getting me out of the office.” Pepper said as she put away her phone, reaching for one of the muffins. 

“Just the one?” Phil snorted. Pepper rolled her eyes fondly in agreement. “Did I tell you what he did last week?”

Phil shook his head, reaching for his own muffin and peeled off the wrapper before breaking off a chunk.. 

“He tried to buy up _The Financial Times_ because they printed an unflattering article about a recent deal of mine. Took me two hours to talk him out of it.”

“Seriously?” Phil laughed. “I keep telling him that buying out a company every time something bad happens is not the solution to all of his problems.”

“Yeah, I’ve been telling him that for years.” Pepper moved to eat more of her muffin. “My god, Phil, these are just as good as the coffee. You’re absolutely going to spoil me here.”

Phil smiled with a bit too much satisfaction showing on his face. “I believe Darcy bakes those too.”

“Christ, Phil! I don’t know why you’re resisting the idea at all. She’s clearly got the same freakish level of appreciation for fine coffee that you do and with her baking skills I’d have thought you’d be beating down the door for her number.” Pepper paused. “Or, you know, doing that secret SHIELD thing and actually showing up at her front door. I won’t judge.”

“Because that’s not at _all_ creepy.”

Pepper shrugged. “Ok, maybe that is, but I’m telling you, Phil. I think she’s interested in you beyond your appreciation of her mad barista skills.”

Phil rolled his eyes and brushed the crumbs off his fingers, standing up. “Ok, come on Pepper You’re clearly becoming delusional from exhaustion so I think I better get you home to Tony. We can discuss my potential career as a sugar-daddy once you’ve had some sleep.”

Pepper followed his lead but paused at the counter, waiting for Darcy to finish up with a customer. 

“Anything else I can help you with?” the brunette asked, still looking a little star-struck to be talking to the CEO of Stark Industries. 

“I’m wondering what the chances are of me being able to order that drink again if I send my assistant down next week?” Pepper asked.

Darcy looked taken aback slightly. “Unfortunately I can’t have that particular drink ready before 11am at the earliest. It’s just something I’m experimenting with for the really cold weather and needs to be slow cooked for a couple of hours. But if you want I can probably put together a cappuccino with a similar blend of spices. They just won’t be as intense.” Darcy looked at Pepper with some hesitation.

“I’ll send my assistant down on Tuesday then.” Pepper nodded decisively before saying goodbye and turning away. Phil smiled to himself as he saw Darcy stand at the till dumbstruck. He winked at her before following Pepper out the door and he thought he saw another blush rising in Darcy’s cheeks. 

_Stop it._ He told himself. _Seriously. Not going down that road._

He was barely a few steps away from the coffee shop when he conceded in the privacy of his mind he couldn’t stop his thoughts going down that road anyway.


	5. Slow Roast Attraction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We would like to apologize for the long wait between this chapter and the last. We both were pretty busy with life stuff and didn't get as much time as we would have liked to work on the story. So we hope that this chapter makes up for the wait!
> 
> Scarlet and Rose

Usually people enjoyed having a day off from work.  It was a time to relax or go out and do something fun.  Darcy, however, never really looked forward to having a day off since she started working for Beans.  Sure, she liked to get away from the bitchy customers, but having a day off was only fun if you had money, or at least a decent apartment in which to relax.  And friends, Darcy thought sadly.  Darcy had cut herself off from nearly all of her friends when she dropped out.  After the horrible breakup some of her friends turned out to be not so nice, and others had supported her but Darcy couldn’t get past the humiliation they had all witnessed her go through.  Neither had she made any new friends in the city, aside from Tessa, who was not only a colleague but since Darcy’s little promotion she was technically Tessa’s supervisor.

After working all of the holiday weekend, Darcy had Monday off and since she had absolutely no extra money this month she was trapped at her apartment.  She could have gone to a park or took a walk through Manhattan but it was a freezing twenty-two degrees out.  Instead, she stayed in her pajamas all day and drank coffee. She traded off her time between shining a flashlight on the floor for her cat, Thor, to chase and researching on her laptop different blends of coffee to try.  She wanted to create something that would knock Phil's socks off.  Speaking of Phil - he popped into her mind quite a bit during the day.  Darcy had smiled when she remembered that secretive little wink he had given to her just before he and Pepper left.  She still couldn't tell if it he was flirting or just being nice to her because she was going out of her way to make him special coffee. At that thought Darcy  blushed and her stomach churned. Suddenly, she felt like she was that same nerdy loser girl she had been in high school, with a major crush on the older badass senior boy, going out of her way to do special things to get him to like her.  And that only lead to heartbreak in the end.  Darcy shook herself mentally at the unpleasant memories, pulling her blanket tighter around her  No–Phil wasn’t like that.  He was kind, and genuine and he always looked sincere when he spoke to her.  And Darcy really did feel like he spoke to her, always keeping eye contact and never once checking her out like most guys did.

Darcy groaned and threw herself back against the couch, startling Thor from where he was curled up next to her.  She liked Phil.  She _really_ liked Phil, she realized.  She was a goner.  There was no way Phil would be interested in a twenty-three year old college dropout.

Still… even if Phil didn’t see her like she wanted him to see her, Darcy was sure Phil was a nice guy.

She made herself a cheese sandwich for dinner and then went directly to bed early that night.  Even with all the blankets, hot water bottle, and Thor curled at her toes she still shivered.  She swore if her asshole landlord didn't fix the heat once and for all she was going to have to start looking for other living arrangements.  However, her only alternatives seemed to be living in a cardboard box in the alley behind Beans or moving in with a bunch of meth-heads.  She had a bit of pride left that made her rebel at the former and she had too much sense to even seriously contemplate the latter.   Living in the city was a lot more difficult than she wanted to admit. Especially with her monthly income. Phil probably had a really nice apartment.  Well, obviously he did.  No one that wore three-hundred dollar shoes and a fancy platinum watch (which she was sure that cost at least a thousand dollars) lived in a shanty town.  She burrowed deeper into her blanket and smiled thinking about what Phil’s apartment might look like. Pristine, all clean lines, rich dark mahogany wood furniture, and a beautiful view of the city.  Darcy laughed out loud - She was a definitely a goner, a hopeless case, if she was imagining Phil’s apartment at this stage. Tessa would have a field day with coming up with a story for this.  She probably even would have sketched out her envisioned  floorplan out on the back of one of Beans’ napkins.  Soon enough, however,  sleepiness took over and Darcy drifted off with lingering thoughts of Mr. Blue Eyes and his exquisite high-rise apartment over-looking Manhattan.

 

* * *

 

  
Darcy jumped up when her phone alarm woke her at five the next morning.  She shut it off and tipped back into the warm nest of blankets for another moment before pulling herself completely out of bed.  "Morning, Thor," she said, stroking the soft silver fur on his head as he curled up tighter under her blanket.  He was a far cry from the pictures she had seen of the God of Thunder after the battle of New York, but he purred loud enough to wake the dead and the faint silver stripes on his sides always made her think of lighting bolts, so when the cat decided to make his home with her, Darcy couldn’t resist the moniker.  She walked over to  the rickety dresser that she picked up at the thrift shop when she first moved to New York and pulled out clean work clothes before she headed into the tiny bathroom.   Actually having hot water come from the shower was like a fifty-fifty chance most mornings, but Darcy learned that she got better odds if she jiggled the handle a few times before trying to turn it on.  She said little prayer to the ‘Hot-Water Gods’ and jiggled away.  After a moment of a constant drizzle falling from the showerhead, it began to spurt and sputter and finally a stream of steamy water began to flow.   She smiled, and quickly undressed, then stepped into the shower, letting the somewhat hot water soothe her freezing body.  

Today was going to be a great day.  She could feel it.  And that wasn’t a feeling she usually had, especially lately.

After spending more time in the shower than normal she finally pulled herself out and got dressed.  She dried her hair quickly, and then looked into the mirror.  Most days she just slapped some concealer under her eyes (to hide her lack of sleep) and threw a bit of clear lip gloss on, but this morning she felt like prettying herself up.  She used to do her make up all the time in college.  Back when she had money, friends, and places to go, she thought as she reached into the drawer and pulled out a little neon green makeup bag.  When was the last time she used anything in here?  Probably like a month or so ago when Tessa pulled her out to see Rick and his band at that god-awful dive bar.  She reached for her liquid eyeliner and drew on perfect winged liner, then a couple of coats of mascara, and painted her lips with a perfect shade of red.  "Hey, Phil," she said in a sultry voice, batting her eyelashes as she looked at her transformed face, lacking the recently acquired shadows and lines of worry.  She tried to picture his reaction to seeing her all made up like this.  Would he be all turned on?  Turned off?  Would he even notice?  She looked back at her reflection and then shook her head.  "Jesus Christ," she muttered as she reached for a tissue and wiped the lipstick off.  She looked sexy but a bit too sexy for slinging coffees all day.  Phil might think she looked hot but so would every other dude that came into Beans. And that would bring nothing but the wrong kind of attention.

She'd keep the eyes but the red lips had to go.  Instead, she put on a deep berry lip stain and looked up at the clock.  "Oh fuck!" Her little makeover detour had her running late for work again.  Darcy quickly ran to the kitchen area and grabbed the cat food, pouring it into a bowl.  "Food’s on the table, Thor.  Be home later.  And listen, just because I'm not going be home for awhile doesn't mean you get to call all your cat buddies over for a house party!"  She grabbed her bag and keys and headed out the door.

It wasn’t going to stay a great day if she didn’t hustle her butt down to Beans.  It was cold and lightly snowing out and Tessa was probably waiting for her to let her inside.

 

* * *

  
Tessa was standing huddled up by the door in a huge black parka, smoking a cigarette when Darcy finally reached Beans.  "I'm so sorry, Tess!  I hope you weren't waiting here too long," Darcy said pulling the keys out of her pocket and unlocking the door.

"Well look at you.  You little hussy," Tessa said tossing her cigarette to the ground.  She had a huge grin on her face, looking at Darcy.  "Sexy mama."

"What?  Oh.  Yeah, the eyes." Darcy shrugged as the walked into Beans, closing the door behind them.  "I just wanted to try something different today."

Tessa quickly went to back room to put away her coat and purse with Darcy following right behind her.  Tessa looked at Darcy as she stuck her purse in the locker, and grinned  "Are you sure it's not because you’re trying to catch the eye of the cute grandpa that likes your coffee?"

Darcy snorted as she opened her locker.  "Grandpa?  Jesus, Tessa, he's not that old!"  She couldn't help but laugh and shake her head as they walked back into the shop area.

"Okay, grandpa might be stretching it.  Hot dad, then." Tessa added, as she ducked behind the counter to grab a stack of paper cups.

"He's ..." Darcy's voice trailed off as she was not able to defend that one.  Truthfully, yes, he was at least twice her age, if not more.  She shook the thought from her head and changed the subject.  "So how was Thanksgiving?  Did you have a nice time?"

There was a silence from behind the counter.

"Tessa?" Darcy asked again.  

More silence.  Then a few moments later a stifled sob.

Darcy scrunched her eyebrows together and took a couple of steps towards the counter, peering over it, looking down at Tessa who was sitting on the floor with her head buried in her hands. Thanksgiving at the Clark house must have not went well, and she was hundred percent sure that Rick had something to do with it.  "Tess– Hun, what's wrong?"  Darcy asked looking up at the clock.  Beans didn't officially open for another half-hour so hopefully that would be enough time to figure out what was wrong with her friend.

Tessa shook her head and cried into her hands.  "It's ... It's nothing ...."

"It's not nothing," Darcy said coming around the counter and sitting down next to her on the floor. She watched Tessa fidget uncomfortably, her sobs soft from beneath her hands.  Darcy, instinctively placed her hands on the girl's back and rubbed small circles to soothe her.  "You can tell me if you want.  Or you don't have to.  I won't pry."

"It's Rick," Tessa said quietly after being silent for a moment.  She pulled her hands away from her face finally, her eyes rimmed with tears.  "We broke up."

Halle-fuckin-lujah!  Was Darcy's first thought, but she had to remind herself that Tessa really cared about Rick. It wouldn't be right to celebrate the fact that she finally rid herself of that loser.  Also, it wouldn’t be the first time they fought badly only for Tessa to forgive Rick and take him back.  She  just had to hope that this time Tessa would stick with it.   Her expression softened.  "I'm so sorry ..."

"It's fine," Tessa said rubbing her eyes.  "I know you didn't care for him.  It's not that I'm upset that we broke up.  It's the fact that I was so blinded by him.  I wish I would have listened to you a long time ago, Darce.  He really was a fucking bastard.  God, he is such a fucking bastard!!"

"Do I even want to know what-"

"I caught him fucking the girl that lives across the street from my parents." Tessa blurted out, she clenched her fist tightly and shook her head. "He tried to play it off like it wasn't even a big deal he was sticking his dick in some nineteen year old bimbo."

Okay that was bad.  It wasn't him just being a slimeball. He had cheated on Tessa while they were visiting her parents for a holiday.  Darcy, had a feeling that this wasn't the first time that Rick had cheated on her, but this was a whole new low for him. "I know you probably don't want to hear the words but I'm gonna say them anyhow.  You are so much better off without him."

Tessa let out a tiny laugh.  "I thought you were going to say 'I told you so.'"

That caused Darcy to grin and pat her friend on the back.  "Well, that too.  Seriously, doll, you do not need him.  He's bad news.  Good riddance!"  Darcy looked up at the clock.  They had to get moving if they wanted the coffee shop to be ready for opening.   "Hey, we better get out butts in gear and get things set up.  You know before someone looks in the window and sees two hot girls pop up from behind the counter.  Might raise some eyebrows."

Tessa giggled. "Could be good for conversation."  Darcy smirked and pulled herself up off the floor, and walked over to wash her hands before adding water to the coffee machine.  "Or not.  Yeah, I could totally use some busy work today.  Get my mind off things.  But … before that happens, I need to go make myself presentable,”  Tessa said dragging herself to her feet.  She reached for a paper towel and ran some water on it, dabbing it under her eyes to wipe away any mascara that might have smeared.

"Well, let's hope it doesn't get too busy today because I think the thing that would cheer you right up is decorating!"  Darcy walked over to the front door and unlocked it.  "I'll go to the back and pull out the Christmas decorations after the lunch rush."

"Sounds fun," Tessa said with a smile and then rolled her eyes.  "Speaking of fun, here comes Park Avenue Princess.  You want to take her or do you want me to?"

"Since you had a rough weekend, and I feel bad for you, I'll take care of Miss Pain-In-The-Ass."  Darcy said just before a tall, blonde in hot pink velour track pants with the words 'Juicy' across her butt walked in.  She always ordered the simplest drink but she was never satisfied with it and always had to have it remade.  Darcy grinned sharply at the blonde.  "Good morning, your hot water and lemon will be right up."

 

* * *

 

The morning seemed to slip by quickly.  There had been a constant stream of customers since they opened.  It was good not having much down time because it kept Tessa's mind off of Rick.  Darcy's, however, kept straying once in awhile to Phil.  Every time the front bell chimed, Darcy’s heart fluttered hoping that it would be him walking through the door.  So far she had nothing but disappointment.  Figures, she got herself all made up and he probably wasn't going to show. Right around eleven the bell chimed again and in walked a young blonde haired man dressed in grey pants wearing a navy blue wool coat.  He had a bluetooth in his ear and a phone in his other hand.  He smiled and walked up to the counter, placing the phone down.

"Excuse me?  Is Darcy here?"

"Right here,"  Darcy smiled, pointing at herself.  Sometimes people asked for her by name but they were usually regulars.  This man was someone Darcy had never met before. "How can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Tim.  Pepper Potts' assistant," he said glancing down at his phone which kept going off with little beeps each time he received a text message.

"Oh!  Oh, that’s right!" Darcy had almost forgot that Pepper said she was sending him in for coffees today.  Luckily, she had all the ingredients on hand to make a cappuccino version of Pepper’s slow cooked favorite.

"She says you make a mean spicy coffee.  I'd like to three of those in the largest size, thanks." he smiled.  His phone rang and he picked it up off  the counter to answer it.  "Miss Potts?  Yes, ma'am I'm here now ... Of course.  Ok ...."

Darcy watched as Tim pulled out a pad of paper before she started working on his order.  As he leaned down to write, Darcy turned to get the coffee.  She wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but she totally couldn’t help listening in on the one sided conversation.  She wondered what it was like to work for Pepper Potts.  The woman seemed to have her head together when she was in the other day but Darcy could also sense that she probably had a rather manic persona at times.

"Go to the Met and talk to Sally ...." Tim repeated as he wrote down his instructions.  He flipped the paper over and scrawled some more words.  "And you want a salad from Lucia's ...  Ugh! ....  He wants hotdogs?   Please tell me it's not from that dreaded hotdog cart all the way down on 42nd?  That's in the complete opposite-  Ok ...  Yes, he is a pain in the ass, Miss Potts.  Okay, so I'll run these coffees back to the office, then I'll stop at the Met and then grab lunch.  See you soon,"  Tim replied and then hung up.

"You sound like a busy guy!" Darcy grinned as she poured the coffee into the cups

"Oh trust me!  I wasn't always this neurotic,"  Tim grinned, picking up his phone and scrolling through the messages.  He sighed and looked down at the label of jar Darcy just set down.  "Cayenne?"

"Yep.  It's the special ingredient.  So three coffees?  Miss Potts must like her caffeine?"  Darcy said snapping lids on and sliding them over to Tim.

Tim laughed, as he pulled out the Stark business credit card and handed it to Darcy.  "One is for Miss Potts.  One is for Mr. Stark.  She was raving about it to him at yesterday afternoon. The other one is for me.  She said it'll change my views on coffee.  I'm more of a latte macchiato kind of a guy myself.  Nice eyeliner by the way."

Darcy's head was spinning.  Not only was Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries, going to be drinking her coffee, so was Tony-Fucking-Stark himself.  Suddenly her palms were sweaty.  She really graduated from serving the regular NYC population to playing in the big leagues.  "Wow ... I'm honored!  and thanks," she managed to say without dribbling her words all over the counter, handing his card back to him.

Tim picked up his drink and took a sip, his eyes widened.  "I think you made me switch teams.  Well, in one way at least," he winked.  "This is ...  wow, I've never ....  This is good.  Really good."

Darcy's smile turned into a wide grin.  "Thank you.  Here let me get a carrier for you," she said reaching for a cardboard drink tray underneath the counter.  She placed the drinks inside and gave Tim a little wave as he headed out the door.

"So ... he was cute ..." Tessa said as she passed by Darcy with a fresh pot of creamer in her hand.  

"That was the assistant to the CEO of Stark Industries ... and he is gay,"  Darcy had to tell Tessa straight up before she started planning her wedding to Assistant Tim.

"Gay?  How do you know that?," Tessa pouted, setting the creamer on the counter by the window.

“He said something about switching teams then he winked at me.  Also, he complimented my eyeliner.  Not my eyes.  My eyeliner.  So … “ Darcy shrugged.

“Ugh, I am never going to find another man in this city!,” Tessa said in over dramatic voice.

"Oh my god, Tessa.  You've been single for what? Forty-eight hours now?  Someone will come around.  Until then enjoy your time not being tied down by a man," Darcy said as she walked towards the back room.  She knew how much Tessa hated being without a guy in her life, and she hoped that she wouldn't try and rush back into the dating pool for awhile.

“Being tied down isn’t such a bad thing, you know!” Tessa joked, and then gave Darcy a rather obvious wink.  “Maybe Mr. Blue Eyes has a kinky-”

“Hey!  Don’t you even!”  Darcy put her finger up to shush her friend.  Those thoughts of were not ones she wanted to deal with at work.  She didn’t need her head filled with that sort of stuff.  God, she could already feel the heat rising to her cheeks and quickly needed to change the subject fast.   "It's kinda quiet now, so I think it'll be the perfect time to start decorating.  Get my iPod out of my purse and I’ll go drag the tree out of the crawlspace." she said just before she disappeared into the back room.

 

* * *

 

Darcy had been in the back room, digging around in the crawlspace for the decorations that Brian had shoved all the way to the back after last Christmas.  She pulled out two cardboard boxes and the little fake tree that looked well past it's prime.  Oh well, maybe with a few strings of lights and some ornaments no one would be able to tell that it was bare in spots and mangled beyond repair.  Box by box Darcy hauled them out into the main area of the shop and put Tessa to work untangling a strand of lights.

"This thing is fucked, Darce," Tessa groaned, holding the knotty ball of lights up for her friend to see.  "Can we just run to Target and grab some new ones?"

"We don't have money for decorations.  Brian said we have to work with what we have," Darcy said as she came out of the back room with a huge wooden ladder. She set it up in the middle of room right where she'd be hanging a plastic Merry Christmas banner.

"He is such a cheapskate. Doesn't he want this shop to look festive?  I mean, people like this kinda shit.  Puts them in the holiday spirit and makes them spend money," Tessa said looking up from detangling the lights.  Her eyes went wide and she shook her head looking at the ladder.  "I am so glad you're going up on that and not me.  I'm afraid of heights."

"I much rather do this than what you're doing," Darcy grinned opening a box and started to pull decorations out, setting them out on one of the tables.  Tessa reached over and set Darcy's iPod in the dock of the radio and pressed play. Christmas music filled Beans and Darcy began to hum along as she reshaped the star that would go on top of the tree.

"So ...." Tessa smiled.  When Darcy looked over at her, Tessa's smile grew into a toothy grin. Obviously, she knew where this conversation was heading.  It was in Tessa's blood to talk guys as often as she could.  Usually, Darcy didn't have much to contribute to the subject but now that Phil had been an object of her affection Tessa was was itching to talk about him.  "How's Phil?"

Darcy shrugged. "He came in on Sunday with Miss Pepper Potts and had coffee.  She's the CEO of Stark Industries I mentioned earlier."

"Uh, yeah, I know who Pepper Potts is.  She's been on like five magazine covers this month.  So does he work for her?"  Tessa asked.

Darcy pulled the banner out of the box and began to unfold it.  "It seems that way.  They're good friends too, I guess.  She was really nice surprisingly.  I told her–"

"Whoa."  Tessa held up her hand.  "I don't want to hear about Pepper, I want to to talk about Mr. Sexy Pants.  So, he works for her ....  He's gotta be her personal accountant or maybe the business accountant for Stark Industries?  Either way he makes buku bucks so that explains his fancy shoes.  So did you get to talk to him?  Did he flirt?  Did he check your muffins out?"  She teased.

"Stop!" Darcy turned from Tessa so she could hide the blush that was creeping up her neck.  "We just make small talk.  Just like any other day.  Tess, I really don't think he's interested in me like that."  Darcy climbed the ladder slowly with the big red banner in one hand and steadying herself with the other.  Her mind floated back to that little wink he had given her just before he left the other day.  She still wasn't sure if that was flirting or if he was just being nice. There was no way she could tell Tessa that she had it bad for him. She would get overly excited and make a huge deal out of it, and Darcy just didn't need that right now.  The Christmas music switched over to Darcy's pop playlist and P!nk filled the coffee shop with her song "Bad Influence".  Tessa turned up the song louder since no one but them were in there at the moment.  It was drizzling out anyway, and most New Yorkers were keeping inside out of the cold wet rain.

Darcy climbed to the top of the ladder as she sang along, swishing her hips back and forth carefully as she tacked up one side of the banner.  If she would have planned her day out better she would have not worn a skirt this morning.  She had black leggings on underneath but the last thing she wanted was Lech or another creepy guy trying to get an eyeful.  The eyeliner, the skirt, the neatly dried hair was all just in case Phil showed up today.

Neither girl heard or saw the door to the shop swing open, and Phil walk in brushing the drizzle from his coat away with his hand.

_Sure I'll have another one it's early.  Three olives shake it up, I like it dirty..._

Darcy sang along to the song, wiggling her hips as she began to reach over to get the other side on the banner up.

_Tequila for my friend it makes her flirty, Trust me..._

Darcy bit her lip, thinking about the lyrics of the song and Phil.  More of that heat flushed to her face as she imagined singing those lyrics to him.  Oh god, she was hopeless.

_I'm the instigator of underwear Turning up here and there, oh oh I'm always on the lookout from the get-go..._

Tessa hummed along to the song as she worked on another set of lights.  She just happened to look up and out of the corner of her eye see Phil standing there looking up at Darcy.  "Oh!"  Her eyes widened when she looked over at him and gave him a little wave before shouting at Darcy.  "Darce!"

Darcy had just finished hanging up the banner and leaned back slightly to see if it was straight.  She swore she heard Tessa say something, but ignored her to concentrate on fixing the crooked side of the banner.

"Darcy!!"  Tessa shouted louder over the music.

"What?" Darcy called out as she turned to look over her shoulder.  The ladder wobbled in one direction and her foot wobbled in the other.  Before she properly realized what was happening, Darcy lost her balance and started to fall.  It was one of those moments where everything happened so fast there was no time to process any of what just happened.  One second she was falling and the next she found herself in Phil's arms.  It took her a moment to realize that her hip had smacked against the floor, but Phil’s arms around her upper body kept her from also smacking her head on the floor, which would have been way worse.  He was bent down on one knee half-cradling her to his chest.  Darcy's hip was already starting to throb, and she swallowed the lump in throat as she looked up at Phil through her eyelashes.  She couldn't believe how close she was to him, and he smelled the way she had exactly imagined him to smell – Warm and spicy with a hint of leather.  She wished she could get closer to bury her head in the crook of his neck and breathe him in.  Something in her made her reach forward, placing her hand on his shoulder and sliding it down his arm as they just looked at each other for a long moment.  She didn't want him to let her go.  Not now.  Not tomorrow.  She would happily stay in his arms forever.

"Oh, shit ... Oh my god, Darcy are you okay?!"  Tessa's voice shattered the perfect still moment between her and Phil.

"Um... Yeah, I'm fine.  My hip ..."  Her hip was really starting to burn now.  Phil's grip dug into her arm like he was afraid she might slip away from him. If she didn't have a bruise on her arm from his death grip, she'd be surprised.  Actually, she kinda hoped a mark would be left there.  That way she could look at it and be reminded of this perfect moment.

Phil looked up at Tessa.  "If you guys have any ice, you should probably get your friend an ice pack." She nodded and headed quickly into the back room.  Phil glanced back down at Darcy, his eyes searching over her body.  "How are you?  Did you twist anything when falling?"

"I'm okay ... A little sore," Darcy said quietly. Phil gently let go of her and she shifted on the floor so that her legs were sticking out straight in front of her.  The more she thought about the situation the more embarrassed she became.  How stupid she must look, spread out all over the  floor of the coffee shop.

"Isn't it a little early for Christmas decorations?" he asked, looking up at the big red banner.

A faint smile spread across Darcy's face.  "It's never too early for Christmas decorations!" she said, as Phil rose from his knee and straightened his tie before offering her a hand to pull her up.

She only hesitated for a moment and then cautiously took his hand, pulling her up to her feet. It took her a moment to let go of his hand once she was steady again. His hand was so warm ... strong, slightly calloused.  Perfect hands.  But the longer she held it the more awkward it got, so she let it go.  "Wow Phil,"  Darcy took a deep breath, looking up at him.  "I knew you weren't an accountant!  No accountant has moves like that!" she exclaimed, dusting herself off.

There was a moment of silence from Phil before he gave her a barely there smile.  "I work in security."

"Oh my god, that was amazing!!!" Tessa babbled as she bounded out of the back room with a bag full of ice.  "One second you were by the door and the next you were catching her across the room, and oh my god I've never seen anything like that!  Did you see that Darcy?"

Darcy rolled her eyes as she took the ice pack from Tessa and placed it on her hip.  "Yes, Tessa.  I think I saw that."  She turned back to Phil and shook her head.  "Oh my god, Phil you probably came in here for coffee and not damsels in distress and here I am just standing around.  Please let me get you something."

"It's alright," Phil gave a little wave of his hand.  "Maybe you should should sit down for a few minutes.  I can get coffee from your colleague."

"No!"  Darcy exclaimed, shuffling to the counter and grabbing a white ceramic mug from the shelf.  "I'm going to make you the best goddamn cup of coffee you've ever had, I insist.  On the house.  It's the least I can do for you kindly making sure I didn't break my neck over there."

"Ok," Phil shrugged his shoulders slightly.  "But only if you sit down and drink something with me while you let that ice pack do its work."  He took a seat at a table closest to the counter, most likely so Darcy wouldn't have to walk far.

Darcy smirked slightly as she concentrated on finding her special blend of beans that she stuffed somewhere in one of the cabinets.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Phil wave Tessa over to him and he said something to her in a low voice.  Darcy strained her ears as she continued to root through the cabinets, but she couldn't hear what he had said to her friend.  "Aha!  Here you are!" Darcy grinned and held the bag out in front of her triumphantly.  She dumped the contents of the bag into the grinder and started it up, inhaling the earthy aroma of the ground beans. After a few minutes of creating the perfect cup of coffee, she walked over to Phil with a satisfied smile on her face as she handed him the mug.

He took it and nodded thanks.  "Sit down," he said in a firm voice that made the little smile on Darcy's face disappear.

"I ... uh, I really should be getting back to work,"  Darcy said awkwardly as she looked around the empty coffee shop.  "Did I say thank you?  I meant to say thank you!"  she said nervously as tried to change the subject.  Before she could get another word in Tessa rushed over with a tray carrying an oversized mug of hot chocolate and two muffins.

"I’ve got my orders, Darce," she said placing the mug in front of her friend and set the two muffins in the middle of the table.  She pulled the ice pack out of her apron pocket and smirked as she handed it back to Darcy.  "And you know what they say – the customer is always right!"  Tessa giggled and left the pair alone as she went back to the counter to do some work.

There was a moment of silence as Phil reached for a muffin first handing one to Darcy and then taking one for himself.  "I'll make you a deal – you sit down and drink your ... hot chocolate, and I'll sit here and drink whatever mystery you're plying me with today, ok?"

"Ok," Darcy said quietly as she put her cold hands on the mug to warm herself up. Her eyes darted to Phil's hands as he reached for his coffee.  "I hope you like that, it's not on our menu.  I haven't forgotten my promise to make a special blend for you but our stock hasn't come in yet."  She watched as Phil lifted the cup to his lips, taking a cautious sip.

"Is this what I think it is?" he asked.

"If you're as good at coffee as I think you are, then yes,” Darcy said as she watched him  take another sip.  She had divert her eyes from staring at his lips for too long before it became obvious.

"Wow.  I think I've only ever had this once before.  I'm amazed that you guys even have Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee in the shop."

Darcy couldn't help but blush.  "Its ... ah..." She sighed and mumbled as she took a sip of her hot chocolate.  "It's from my own stash.  Brian would never approve a purchase of something so expensive."

"I'm surprised you keep your top end coffee at work then."

"Yeah ... well," Darcy shrugged and then traced a small chip on her mug with her finger.  "I don't have a proper coffee machine at home, you know."

"Really?"  Phil leaned back in his seat, watching Darcy before taking another sip.  "I have to say I'm really surprised to hear that."

"It broke," she said simply.  She didn't want to go into the story that in fact she had a super nice machine but when she moved to the city she had to sell it off because she needed the money.  She traded it in at the pawn shop and got a couple hundred dollars for it which in turn she was able to buy a threadbare couch, a rickety dresser, an old lamp, and bed that creaked every time she rolled over for her crappy apartment.  Darcy shifted in her seat and suddenly her hip ached even more.  She traded her cup of hot chocolate for the ice pack, which she placed on her bruised hip.

Moments of silence passed as they nibbled on their muffins and drank their drinks.  It was nice just being near Phil even if they weren't talking.  "So Ms. Potts' assistant dropped by earlier today,"  Darcy said eventually, deciding to change the subject to something less depressing.

"Did he now?"

"Yup!  So there is something else I have to thank you for."

"Darcy, you don't need to thank me for anything."

"Dude, you saved me from breaking my neck with some awesome ninja moves and you got the CEO of Stark Industries and my own personal role model hooked on my coffee.  I have loads to thank you for!"

She waited for a response but Phil just shrugged off her compliment and took a bite of his muffin.

"Seriously, Phil."  Darcy forced herself to look at him as intently as she could without allowing herself to blush or make a fool out of herself.  Time to seem to stand still as they locked onto each other's gaze.  She studied his face, noticing the little lines around his eyes, his crooked nose (which she would bet all the money she had, that he had it broken before.  Probably more than once), she saw the little cut on his chin which he probably gave himself shaving in a hurry this morning.  God, she wanted to just stare at him all day and take in his little imperfections that made him perfect to her.

"What, Darcy?"  he broke the silence and her concentration on his features.

"Thank you.  I owe you."

He studied her face again, but this time she could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks and she needed to look away.  Looking down at her hip, she pretending to adjust her ice pack.

"You don't owe me for anything, but if you really insist, then how about you sharing one of your amazing muffin recipes with me.  I've got a friend who loves to bake."

"Deal!" Darcy agreed, looking up at him smiling and sticking out her hand.  Phil took it for a quick shake and if she had it her way, she'd just tangle her fingers in his and hold his hand all day long.  But she let go before things got too awkward.  "Can I make you another cup of coffee before you go?" she asked standing up after she and he released their grasp of each other.

"It's not really necessary," Phil said standing up and getting his coat off the back of the chair.

"Please, Phil."  It was her turn to insist.

"Okay."

Shuffling back to the counter with her hand on her hip she deposited the empty mugs and muffin wrappers and then went straight to work on Phil's cup of to-go coffee.  She didn't really need to write his name on the cup since he was the only customer in the shop but something made her pick up the marker.  She bit her lip to keep her from grinning like an idiot as she scrawled 'Phil– My badass ninja hero' on to the side of the cup before she filled it with coffee.  She set it down in front of him, and watched as he looked at it with an arched eyebrow.

"What?" Darcy asked, smirking at Phil when he looked up to meet her eyes.

"Nothing," Phil said picking up the cup. His face was plain but his eyes told that he was amused by the name on the cup.  "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

 _It's a date._ She thought to herself. "Tomorrow,"  Darcy agreed, watched him head towards the door passing Tessa. Her friend had that devilish look in her eyes she got when she was thinking something naughty.

"So ... Phil," Tessa grinned.  "What do you think about Darcy's _muffins_?"

Darcy wanted nothing more to slap her friend right now.  It's not like Phil knew about the muffin joke but still ...  "Tessa!"  Darcy hissed, heat rising to her face.

Phil looked at Tessa before he fixed his gaze on Darcy. "Darcy's muffins are an amazing _asset_ to this coffee shop," he said with seriousness in his voice before winking at her.

Darcy's mouth dropped slightly open and she was sure her cheeks must be cherry red by now, but Phil was already turning towards the door so hopefully he didn't see her in that flustered state.  Tessa was in the corner suppressing a giggle with a hand over her  mouth.  Quickly, Darcy regained her composure.  "Tomorrow.  Our supplier comes tomorrow and I'll have your coffee too."  God, she sounded so desperate to see him again.

Phil did one quick glance back.  "Tomorrow then."  He smiled warmly before he exited the shop.

Darcy watched until he was out of view and then turned to Tessa with her hands on her hips.  "I –"

"I couldn't help it!," Tessa blurted out with a giggle.  "And he so totally complimented your boobs!"

Darcy bit down on her lip slightly and then started to laugh herself.  "Oh my god ....  I’m sure he didn’t-"

"And what the fuck?!"  Tessa tossed a giant paper snowflake on the table and stood up.  "How did he move so swiftly to catch you?  Damn, I mean, that was the hottest thing I've ever seen.  You should have thanked him properly!"

"I made him extra special coffee!"  Darcy said raising her eyebrow slightly.  "Thanked him properly?  What do you mean?  Pull him by his tie into the back room, shove him up against the wall and kiss him senseless?"  She chucked at her friend and then rolled her eyes.

"A kiss?"  Tessa almost sounded offended.  She grinned and got that inappropriate twinkle in her eyes.  "No, I mean, pull him by his tie into the back room, shove him up against the wall, and give him the best damn blow job of his life!"

"Tessa!!" Darcy exclaimed in shock, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Oh, come on!  The man practically saved your life!  It's the least you could have done for him.  It's what I would have done!" "Tessa giggled.  "You can't honestly tell me that you have not thought dragging that man to the back room to do dirty things to him?"

"No, Tessa, I can't say that I have." Darcy turned away from her friend.  She hadn't thought about ... things like that, but now that those images were in her head, it was going to be rather hard not to think about them.  "There are other ways of showing gratitude other than … sex acts.  Now, we should probably finish up decorating before Brian drops by," Darcy said quietly, grabbing a box of ornaments off the table.   She smiled to herself remembering how secure she felt in Phil's arms, and how she'd love to just spend hours wrapped up in them.

Warm and safe.


	6. Roasted Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil's in denial until clarity comes from an unexpected conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so very sorry for the delay but full explanations will follow at the end of the chapter. In the meantime, please accept my thank and gratitude for people's continued enjoyment of this story and encouragement and kudos, despite the massive delay. Also, please note that the following chapter only had the benefit of my own proof reading and was not beta-read. ~ Rose

It took more willpower that Phil had wanted to admit, even to himself, to put Pepper’s teasing conversation from Sunday out of his mind. But years of discipline eventually allowed Phil to do just that. On Monday he barely spared a thought for Beans as he collected coffee from a coffee shop more conveniently located on the way to SHIELD. Not because he knew Darcy wasn't going to be at Beans, but because Phil was short on time, he told himself. He also ruthlessly quashed the fleeting disappointment at the extra bitter taste of his coffee, reminding himself that he had never particularly held a high opinion for the quality of the beverage in commercial coffee shop chains anyway. He worked late that evening and was back in his office before the first rays of dawn touched the New York streets, losing himself in mission reports and intelligence briefings. A phone call from one of the other handlers finally roused his attention away from his files and he looked at the clock, surprised to discover it was well past 2 o’clock in the afternoon. He stretched his arms over his head, feeling the joints popping and wincing very slightly at the pull in his chest that he didn’t think he would ever get used to, before deciding that he could do with a break, and the rest of his work he could finish from the comfort of his own living room.

A cold drizzle had stealthily blanketed the city while he was buried under his paperwork so he hailed a cab to Beans, utterly confident in his resolve by the time he opened the shop’s front door that all inappropriate thoughts of a dark-haired young barista were put away.

He was still not prepared however, despite a lifetime of employing iron discipline and ruling his emotions, for the sight of Darcy’s hips in a skirt, swaying in time to the beat of P!nk’s “Bad Influence” as she balanced precariously at the top of a step ladder pushed against the back wall. Her arms were outstretched, carefully attaching a large holiday banner to wall bracket, while she sang the lyrics.

_Sure I’ll have another one it’s early  
Three olives shake it up, I like it dirty…_

Phil’s brain came to a stuttered halt and it took every shred of self-control he possessed to keep his reaction from showing up on his face. He had always appreciated Darcy’s curvaceous figure but gave her the courtesy that it was clear few other men gave her of not treating her differently for it. 

_Tequila for my friend it makes her flirty,  
Trust me..._

Without conscious thought Phil took a step inward, away from the door, mesmerised by the sight. It was obvious that Darcy hadn’t heard the door open and was engrossed in her task and the music.

_I’m the instigator of underwear_  
Turning up here and there, oh oh  
I’m always on the lookout from the get-go… 

A movement in the corner of his eye registered fleetingly. The other young barista, Tessa, was at one of the tables, untangling a set of lights knotted around a garland. Phil’s step forward had finally caught her attention and she looked up, her eyes widening when she recognised Phil before whipping around and calling out Darcy’s name. 

The majority of Phil’s mind at that moment may still have been stuck on the hypnotic swaying of Darcy’s hips, but years of being a SHIELD agent had turned the necessity of taking in and processing a whole scene in one go to put together the possible consequences and make the necessary decisions into second nature, or even an art form, as some junior agents joked. The second Tessa’s head turned toward Darcy, before she had called Darcy’s name out a second time, Phil was already striding forward.

Tessa’s second shout had finally caught Darcy’s attention when Phil was already half way across the coffee shop floor. Darcy’s sudden twist to look over her shoulder made the step-ladder wobble very slightly, and in surprise Darcy shifted her foot to compensate, but the momentum from her turn overbalanced her. 

Phil did not need to take his eyes off Darcy to note the chain reaction of these events in his peripheral vision. Once spurred into action, it was ridiculously easy to dismiss all extraneous thoughts from his mind. He did not go out in the field as much since his recovery and his body welcomed the adrenaline while his mind welcomed the freedom of his world narrowing down to just a stream of data from his senses triggering snap decisions based on finely honed instincts and reactions.

Much later, Phil would have the time to recall Darcy’s look which went from surprise at seeing him to mild embarrassment and then immediately to fear as she tumbled down, her body still half twisted. In the moment though, he merely kept his eyes on her as his last two strides brought him close enough to reach out and catch one of Darcy’s outstretched arms in one hand, pulling it around him to turn her body further, and wrap his other arm around her waist as she fell forward. He twisted her sideways, gripping firmly, and allowed Darcy’s weight to drag him down to one knee as he cradled her upper body. He braced his arms for impact when Darcy’s legs hit the floor and her head snapped back, avoiding bouncing off the floor by mere inches.

They wound up like that, utterly still, Phil down on one knee with his back the wall and the offending stepladder, one arm around Darcy’s torso and the other still holding her arm which he had brought around enough to allow Darcy to wrap it around his neck for leverage. Darcy was still half-twisted, her left hip smacking the floor pretty hard, but Phil’s grip kept the rest of her away from impact and she lay like that, staring at him in shock and breathing heavily, their faces inches apart. 

For one long moment there was nothing else but the sensation of Darcy in his embrace, the feel of her arm around his shoulder. He smelled the unique combination of what he imagined must be Darcy’s perfume mixed with the scent of freshly ground coffee beans. With the arm wrapped around her ribs Phil felt each shuddering breath she took and he found himself reluctant to let go. Instead, it was Darcy who began to move her arm, but rather than of just taking it away, she slowly ran the palm of her hand across his shoulder and then down his arm. She looked dazed, as if she was afraid to break contact with Phil, as if that would make her fall again. 

“Oh shit… oh my god, Darcy are you ok?”

Tessa’s voice shattered the moment for both of them. Darcy blushed crimson, and Phil carefully let her go. He shifted from one knee, habitually suppressing a wince from the bruise he knew was forming, into a crouch and critically ran his eye over Darcy, ruefully noting that his grip on her arm was likely to leave bruises under her sleeve as well as noting where others would form on her hip, and traveling further down to her knees and ankles. He then looked up at Tessa who was frozen in place, a hand on her mouth. 

“If you guys have any ice, you should probably get your friend an ice pack” he said to her. Irrationally, he suddenly wished he could send her out of the shop completely and keep this moment private to just him and Darcy. He pushed that thought away though, noting gratefully when Tessa nodded soundlessly and ran into the back room. 

“How are you? Did you twist anything when falling?” He asked Darcy softly. He was glad that she had been at the top of the stepladder and not half way down where her feet could have gotten caught in the rungs. 

Darcy still looked utterly mortified and uncharacteristically quiet as she shook her head, barely whispering a response as she straightened out her body until she was sitting on the floor with her legs straight out in front of her, propped up on one arm while rubbing her right hip with her other hand. Phil’s eyes were drawn to her mouth as she nervously bit her lips and he had to tear his eyes away to make eye contact with her. She was looking up at him through partially lowered eyelashes and he abstractly noted the subtle effect of her eyeliner. He clenched his hand to prevent the sudden inexplicable urge to run his hand along side her jaw and tip her face toward him.

The completely unprecedented look of shyness of Darcy’s face overwhelmed Phil. He needed to make Darcy laugh, to restore her equanimity.

“Isn’t it a little early for Christmas decorations?” He asked with a pointed look at the wall before returning his gaze to Darcy. 

“It’s never too early for Christmas decorations!” Darcy declared, a small smile finally finding its way to her face. Phil’s joints reminded him that they were still on the floor and he stood up from his crouch, adjusting his tie before offering Darcy a hand. 

She only hesitated a second or two before grabbing the proffered hand and Phil pulled her up gently, his other hand making contact again with her elbow just long enough to make sure she was stable on her feet before relinquishing all contact. Was that hesitation on Darcy’s part in letting go of his hand, he wondered? He wasn’t sure. 

“Wow, Phil.” She took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. “I *knew* you weren’t an accountant. No accountant has moves like that!”

Phil blinked for a moment at the thought of Darcy contemplating anything about him, much less his moves, before his usual cover story tripped off his tongue. “I work in security” he replied with a bland smile. 

Just then Tessa emerged from the kitchen, holding a plastic bag full of ice which she held toward Darcy. 

“Oh my god, that was amazing!” Tessa babbled. “One second you were by the door and the next you were catching her across the room, and oh my god I’ve never seen anything like that! Did you see that, Darcy?”

Phil took a step back, his polite smile slipping into place as he carefully watched Darcy hold the ice pack to her hip. Darcy rolled her eyes. “Yes, Tessa. I think I saw that.”

The brunette turned back toward Phil, suddenly conscious that he was just standing there. “Oh my god, Phil, you probably came in for coffee and not damsels in distress and here I am just standing around. Please, let me get you something!”

“It’s all right,” Phil tried to wave her off. “Maybe you should sit down for a few minutes. I can get coffee from your colleague.”

“No!” Darcy exclaimed, already shuffling to the counter with a slight limp that made Phil wince to himself. “I’m going to make you the best goddamn cup of coffee you’ve ever had, I insist! On the house. It’s the least I can do for you kindly making sure I didn’t break my neck over there.”

“Ok,” Phil relented. “But only if you sit down and drink something with me while you let that ice pack do its work.” He sat down at a table closest to the counter, watching her. Darcy pretended to ignore him although from the slight smirk on her face that he glimpsed before she started rooting around the cabinets confirmed that she did in fact hear what he said. 

When Darcy turned away Phil waved Tessa over, thrusting a fiver into her hand. “After she’s done please make her whatever drink she likes best and I’ll make sure she actually sits long enough to rest and recover.” he whispered. Tessa’s eyes got impossibly round before she grinned and flashed Phil a big thumbs, hiding the note in her apron. 

Eventually Phil heard a muffled but triumphant “Aha!” before Darcy spun back toward the coffee machine, a vacuum sealed bag in her hand. Before long he heard the sound of a small grinder and then the coffee machine and then Darcy was walking over, holding a small ceramic cup of black coffee. He knew right away from the smell that this was definitely not the House Roast. 

“Sit down.” He said firmly, as Darcy set the cup in front of him. She looked unsure but Phil merely tilted his chin pointedly toward the chair across from him and Darcy sat down heavily, wincing again. 

“I… I really should be getting back to work.” Darcy said awkwardly, but Phil merely glanced around before settling his eyes back on Darcy, wordlessly reminding her that it was a slow afternoon and there was no one else to serve.

“Did I say thank you? I meant to say thank you.” she continued, looking unsure of herself. She started when Tessa quietly slid over to the table. She had a tray with a large mug which she placed in front of Darcy, and two muffins as well as the ice pack Darcy had abandoned at the counter. 

“I’ve got my orders, Darcy.” She said, not budging until Darcy took the ice pack and reapplied it back to her hip. “And you know what they say - the customer is always right!” Tessa laughed and twirled away from the pair at the table. Phil swore he had the urge to check whether there were any cherubs with bows and arrows hanging around, because he saw the matchmaking sparkling the young woman’s eyes as she walked away. 

_One lunatic with a bow and arrow is enough in my life, thank you,_ he thought before turning his attention back to Darcy.

“I’ll make you a deal - you sit down and drink your…” he sniffed at the mug “... hot chocolate, and I’ll sit down and enjoy whatever mystery you’re plying me with today, ok?” 

“Ok.” Darcy’ sighed, capitulating. “I hope you like that, it’s not on our menu.” She wrapped the hand not holding the ice pack around the mug of hot chocolate, possibly to avoid fidgeting. “I haven’t forgotten my promise to make a special blend for you but our stock hasn’t come in yet.” Phil merely hummed in response and picked up his mug, curious as to the contents. The smell was tantalizing and he took a cautious sip. 

His eyebrows shot up and he took another, longer swallow. “Is this what I think it is?” he asked, surprise coloring his words. Darcy smiled and nodded. “If you’re as good at coffee as I think you are, then yes.”

“Wow. I think I’ve only ever had this once before. I’m amazed you guys even have Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee in the shop.”

Darcy suddenly blushed “It’s.. ah…” She sighed and then practically mumbled into her drink. “It’s from my own stash. Brian would never approve a purchase of something that expensive.” 

Phil let that sink into his brain for a moment, debating on which part of that statement he should pursue. He eventually settled on a neutral response. “I’m surprised you keep your top end coffee at work then.” 

“Yeah... well…” Darcy’s finger traced a small chip on the rim of her mug absentmindedly. “I don’t have a proper coffee machine at home, you know?”

“Really?” Phil sat back, watching Darcy impassively “I have to say I’m surprised to hear that.” 

For a moment Darcy just looked tired before shrugging. “It broke.” She said simply. Phil could sense the lie in that statement but let it go, being more interested in cheering Darcy up than finding out her small secrets at the moment. 

“In that case, thank you for sharing your stash with me.”

Her stomach decided to take that moment to growl, and Darcy looked up at Phil apologetically. He smiled and gently pushed one of the muffins in her direction. “Eat.” he directed. 

They both sat quietly with their respective drinks and muffins for a couple of minutes and while it should have been awkward, Phil was surprised that it wasn’t. 

“So Ms. Potts’ assistant stopped by earlier today.” Darcy dropped casually. Phil accepted the change of topic. He didn’t want to see Darcy look sad or tired again anyway. 

“Did he now?”

“Yup! So there’s something else I have to thank you for.”

“Darcy, you don’t need to thank me for anything.”

“Dude, you saved me from breaking my neck with some awesome ninja moves and you got the CEO of Stark Industries and my own personal role model hooked on my coffee. I have loads to thank you for!”

Phil shrugged off the compliment. 

“Seriously, Phil.” Darcy looked at him intently and Phil’s breath caught in his throat as he gazed into her eyes. Her expression was a curious mix of vulnerable openness and hidden secrets and suddenly he itched to puzzle them all out. 

“What, Darcy?”

“Thank you. I owe you”

Phil studied Darcy’s face for a moment, still trying to puzzle out the contradictions this young woman presented. 

“You don’t owe me anything, but if you really insist, then how about you sharing one of your amazing muffin recipes with me. I’ve got a friend who loves to bake.”

“Deal!” Darcy agreed, holding out her hand. Phil grasped her hand for a quick shake and this time there was no doubt as she hesitated before letting go. “I’ll have it for you tomorrow.” 

She stood up, putting the half-melted bag of ice on the table. “Can I make you another cup of coffee to go?”

“It’s really not necessary.”

“Please, Phil.”

“Ok.”

Darcy rubbed her hip one last time before stacking up the plates and the cups and depositing them on the counter behind which Tessa had made herself scarce. Before too long, a takeaway cup rested on the counter and Phil arched his eyebrow at Darcy when he read what was scribbled on it in black marker. 

_Phil - my badass ninja hero_

“What?” Darcy smirked right back. 

“Nothing.” Phil deadpanned. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow.”

He was passing the counter when he caught Tessa’s eye and nodded to her. She grinned back at him. “So… Phil, what do you think of Darcy’s _muffins_ ”.

The emphasis immediately warned Phil that there was an inside joke between the two young women to which he was not privy. He glanced back at Darcy only to receive more confirmation from her shocked expression and blush. 

“Tessa!” She hissed with a mortified look.

He looked between Tessa and Darcy for a moment before looking pointedly at Tessa and then with complete seriousness he looked at Darcy. “Darcy’s muffins are an amazing _asset_ to this coffee shop.” before winking at her. He thought he glimpsed surprise and some wonder flit across her face but he forced himself to not turn back as he reached for the door. It was only her voice calling him tentatively as he was nearly out of the shop that got him to stop and look.

Darcy was still standing behind the counter looking stunned, as if she hadn’t expected Phil’s name to cross her lips again. The she shook herself and called out to him “Tomorrow. Our supplier comes tomorrow and I’ll have your coffee too.”

Phil smiled warmly. “Tomorrow then.”

\-----------------

In retrospect, Phil thought from the safety of his own couch that evening, if Natasha had come across his path when Phil was returning home that afternoon he’d have spent a week paying for it at the gym in one of her sparring sessions. He returned to his apartment in the Avengers Tower after leaving Beans but quite uncharacteristically for him he had no recollection of actually walking there. It wasn’t until the early shadows began stealing across the floor that he shook himself from his stupor and realised that he had spent the last… god knows how long, sitting on his couch with his eyes transfixed on the object occupying his coffee table - that now-empty, ridiculous, flimsy Beans takeout cup with the bold handwriting scrawled across the side.

_Phil - my badass ninja hero_

Pepper’s voice floated through his head as he finally stood up, flexing his bruised knee a couple of times before shedding his tie and his suit jacket. _I think she’s interested in you beyond your appreciation of her mad barista skills._

He had refused to contemplate the idea that there was anything for Darcy to be interested in, beyond a high standard of customer service. He was an aging veteran of a brutal profession and she must be barely out of college. However, after this afternoon he could not keep those thoughts at bay any more. There had definitely been a spark, a connection between the two of them in that mesmerizing moment when they were just inches from each other. Nor could he deny that Darcy seemed as genuinely hesitant to relinquish physical contact with him as he had been with her, if only less able to hide it well. 

_Well, maybe that’s exactly what you need, Phil! Someone to make_ you _feel younger._

_Goddammit_ , he thought, pacing throughout his apartment, automatically dealing with minor chores to occupy his hands. The suit jacket was hung up efficiently but the tie went sailing across the bedroom to land on the dresser, the only spot of mess in an otherwise immaculate room. Phil prowled back out to the living room and then the kitchen, emptying the dishwasher while Pepper’s laughter echoed back and forth in his head, mixed with image of those bright blue eyes and full lips and the memory of that intoxicating perfume that was uniquely Darcy in his mind. 

With the dishwasher emptied there was nothing else Phil could think of to do as a distraction. His only two remaining options were to pull out his laptop and immerse himself in endless SHIELD reports or try working off his restlessness in the gym. Flexing his hands a couple of times, Phil made up his mind and changed quickly into workout clothes before making his way out of the apartment, studiously avoiding looking at the single paper cup still sitting in the middle of his glass coffee table. 

***  
An hour later and Phil’s world was narrowed down to just his heartbeat strumming in his veins and the steady _*thwack twack*_ sounds of his fists on the punching bag. There were no missions, there were no emotions, there were no dancing images of dark haired baristas or paper cups. Just sweat and adrenaline. And good ol’ eighties Ska music blaring through surround speakers in the gym. It was one of the few places he felt comfortable letting his guard down and was therefore not put off by the sudden appearance of Natasha in his line of sight. While the assassin often delighted in surprising people with her silent prowling as much as Hawkeye (only with more subtlety), she usually allowed Phil the sanctity of his space in the gym and did nothing more than appear on the other side of the punching bag and wait for him to still the bag and run his arm over his forehead. As if on queue, the music volume decreased and Phil still spared a moment of wonderment at Jarvis’ near telepathic programming.

With his attention now back on his surroundings, Phil let the satisfying fatigue pull at him as he took deep mouthfulls of water while taking in Natasha’s appearance. She looked nothing like her professional calling, lounging against the punching bag dressed in a black dancer’s leotard and tights, her red hair tied back in a ponytail and matched by equally red leg warmers that he remembered Clint laboriously knitting on a long away mission as a gag gift. To this day Phil was not sure if Natasha wore them out of perverse pleasure over some long-running inside joke between the pair or for more sentimental reasons. He would never have suspected the latter if he hadn’t caught the Black Widow one day furiously scowling over youtube knitting videos figuring out how to fix one of the leggings that had begun to unravel. 

“Ballet?” Phil asked, considering the Widow’s attire. He had noticed it appeared to be her preferred workout when Clint was away. Natasha merely shrugged, an elegant _as you can see_ maneuver punctuated by an arched brow, and Phil nodded slightly sheepishly, capping his water bottle and rolling his shoulders. 

Second later he found himself flat on his back blinking in shock with a small Russian assassin on his chest, her hands flat on the mat on either side of his head and one knee pointedly not putting any more pressure on his neck than necessary to simply demonstrate its presence. 

_Usually._ Natasha _usually_ allowed Phil the sanctity of his space in the gym, he thought abstractly, trying to puzzle out the intense, inscrutable gaze directed at him from above. Eventually giving up, he cleared his throat and pointedly glanced down at the threatening knee before looking back up to Natasha. After a further moment she removed the knee but stayed straddling Phil’s chest making Phil consider his options. Natasha was certainly light enough that he could try to stand up with, but he was under no illusions that she would simply let him do that, and he was too exhausted for a sparring match. Finally he capitulated to the inevitable conclusion - Agent Romanoff would let him get up whenever she had finished making her point. 

While Phil was infamous for his deadpan expressions that gave away no information, he had worked with Clint and Natasha too long for them not to have become intimately familiar with each other’s way of thinking. It was therefore no surprise that Natasha spoke as soon as he arrived at the conclusion that surrender was his best hope of not acquiring any more bruises this evening, and he felt her relaxing out of combat readiness above him. 

“You appear unusually distracted this evening” she remarked, swinging a leg over and standing up in flowing movement. “It’s nothing,” Phil deflected while contemplating the hand she held out to him, wondering if a further lesson before warily grasping it. The smirk on Natasha’s face implied she had certainly read what was on his mind but she did not pull any more surprise moves as Phil levered himself upright. She cock her head sideways and narrow her eyes when she saw him wince and shake out his bruised knee. Her green eyes were clearly insisting on an explanation and once again Phil remembered why she was one of the best agents at information extraction that SHIELD had ever employed. However, he was not in the mood to confess his inner turmoil to the Black Widow.

“I tripped on the way home this afternoon.” Phil remarked lamely, earning an inelegant snort from Natasha.

“That’s ridiculous. Agent Coulson does not trip. Everyone knows that.” She waved her hand at Phil, as if indicating _give me something better_.

“Any more ridiculous than the Black Widow staying at home fretting over the return of a certain insufferable archer?” Phil retorted instead. This earned him a second snort. 

“Now that is _truly_ ridiculous, Phil. Everyone knows the Black Widow does not fret.”

“Of course not.” Phil responded gravely, picking up his dropped water bottle and towel and preparing to leave, only to be stopped again by Natasha’s voice, much softer this time. 

“But Natasha Romanoff does worry about the safety of her family, particularly when she is home and they are not.” 

He turned around in surprise. There was no posturing in Natasha’s stance and her face was unusually open. 

“Hawkeye is family.” Phil agreed. “A wayward, errant, red-headed step-child maybe, but definitely family.” 

“Yes, he is family. As is the rest of the team.” Natasha smiled fondly, moving closer to Phil and picking at an invisible piece of lint on his t-shirt. “As are you.”

Phil just stared at her, moved by Natasha’s unusual openness and honesty. The words tumbled out before he had a chance to think about the possible consequences. “I thought that love was for children.” 

“Jarvis? Some privacy please.” the assassin called out before moving even closer into Phil’s space gently laying her palm on his cheek as it to ensure that she had Phil’s full attention. Dimly Phil heard the AI responding as he gazed down intently at her. In the back of his mind, Phil was keenly aware that the agent’s entire life had been spent in training for this sort of emotional manipulation but his gut instinct told him that he was seeing a truly rare glimpse of the real Natasha, the one he suspected only Clint Barton had the privilege of seeing to date. 

Despite the gentleness of her face Natasha’s voice was fierce when she finally spoke. “I may never be able to indulge in foolish romantic notions but Phil, you’re the one who taught me that loyalty and friendship are _not_ weaknesses and you showed me how to turn these into strengths. And maybe somewhere along the line, that certain insufferable archer made me realise that this loyalty and friendship is a kind of love in its own way. It may be all I am capable of, but it has taught me that I should not take this rare gift for granted.”

The entire afternoon rushed back to Phil, uncomfortably. “Love in unexpected places?” he remarked weakly, caught in that steady, green gaze. 

“Love in unexpected places.” Natasha nodded, before lifting her hand away and stepping back. Phil could see Natasha’s usual mask dropping over her face and she flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and pinned him with her usual aloof expression. “And if you ever repeat to anyone what I have just told you I will break both of your legs.” 

“Of course,” he responded dryly. He expected no less. He stayed for a moment longer as the lithe Russian twirled away, calling out to Jarvis again. 

“Yes, Ms. Romanoff?”

“Lets warm up with some Prokofiev before going back to _La foile de Giselle_ from yesterday.”

“Yes, Ms. Romanoff,” Jarvis replied smoothly before the recognizable strains of the Nutcracker Suite began to fill the gymnasium. 

Phil watched Natasha begin to work her way through a rapid warm-up, lost of his own thoughts, before shaking his head and quietly exiting the gym. He made his way back to his apartment where he headed straight for the shower before returning to the living room couch and sitting down in front of the coffee table. The paper cup was exactly where Phil had left it and he let his mind wander as he stared at it again. He was certain Natasha had no idea of the particular problem that had been occupying his mind, but that did not make her unexpected declaration any less true for him as it was for her. Which only left the question - did Phil want to open himself up once again to the risks that were inherent in trying to attempt a relationship with his line of work. 

When Phil finally stood up from his couch this time there was no agitation, merely a sense of purpose. He picked up the paper cup and walked into the kitchen, pausing by the recycling bin long enough to flip off and toss away the lid before moving to the sink, where he carefully rinsed the inside of the takeout cup before drying it and placing it in the cupboard next to his usual mug. 

When he tumbled into bed fifteen minutes later Phil found his mind much lighter and sleep claimed him almost immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok it's confession time. The truth is that I have completely lost contact with my co-author, TheScarletAvenger. I do hope she's ok but in the absence of hearing from her for several months I've had to decide on what to do with the story in order to not disappoint our loyal readers. In the end, I decided to go ahead and post this chapter, of which she had seen about 2/3rds in an earlier draft. 
> 
> The other reason for the delay is that I'm expecting a baby in... oh my god... four weeks' time. It's been rather hard going at times and I have no idea what the future will be like after "Hawkeye" is born (hand on heart, that's his nickname right now). I would love to continue writing this story and the plot has been worked out from the beginning, but I worry about my ability to do justice to Darcy's voice and the voice of the other OC's which are Scarlet's creations. She was always able to strike the right note to make it sound authentic while I dealt with Phil and the rest of the Avengers. 
> 
> Therefore, please enjoy this chapter. Please forgive me for the inevitable delay that will follow before the next chapter. And please forgive me ahead of time if I can't quite get Darcy's voice right going forward. I am obviously going to put my current RL priorities ahead but I am going to try to continue writing this. It just might need to wait until my life settles into a brand new life-changing routine.
> 
> All my love to our fans,
> 
> Rose


	7. Not an update, but a heartfelt thank you for support

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is not an update, this is a big big thank you to everyone for the support.

Hey guys, 

Between madly trying to finish up my last week of work, the general feeling like I'm imitating a beached whale, and the fact that sitting down at my computer for any length of time is uncomfortable, I'm simply not in a position to respond individually to all your wonderful and kind comments and kudos on the last chapter at this time. But I wanted to let you all know that I greatly appreciate all the well wishes and the support and the awesome love. You are all awesome and it means a lot to me!

There will not be a quick wrap-up chapter an an epilogue, because Scarlet and I did hammer out a fairly detailed plot and I don't want to be one of those authors that chops a story in half and just tacks a "happily ever after" after a hasty conclusion because the going got tough. If nothing else, I do have a snippet of a hilarious conversation between Fury and Coulson worked out that's way further down the plot line and I resolutely refuse to let that go to waste. So I will try to stick to our plot as best as I can and hope Scarlet can return at some point to help me. I certainly intend on keeping her as co-author as I probably would not have dipped my toes at all into writing fanfic without her enthusiasm and encouragement. She told me of a prompt she got. I tossed her some ideas, and next thing you know this story was born. 

So I will continue to work away at this story once Hawkeye makes his appearance and I wrap my head around this concept of being entirely responsible for another human being. To anyone who has written or read a Clint Barton with an unexpected baby fic, suddenly I *get* it. I've only been pretending to be a grown up. Having to actually be one is terrifying. Seriously, what were we thinking? :P 

Anyway, lets just hope he gets his dad's eyesight and not mine. That would make his nickname less cool and a lot more... just ironic. 

Thank you all once again. Scarlet, if you're out there come back - I miss you!

Until next time,

~ Rose


End file.
